Calypso
by webelongtothemaze
Summary: Hi everyone! This is set in the maze runner world but back in time. It's the time of the solar flares and we're in London where a group of girls decide to get on a boat to avoid the worst of the flares but there's a stowaway... All your fave Gladers will make an appearance but it's an original plot.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello everyone we are back! Have to say, after we finished Glader Girls we had nothing to procrastinate on (hello A levels) but don't worry, we're not short of ideas! This is something different, not your normal Glader fic but it does involve solar flares, England and a lot of good old fashioned sarcasm. I promise all your favourite characters will be making an appearance but not all at once ;) I've had this idea for a while now, if it is something your interested in seeing more of, please comment! Now, let the adventure begin...**

 **Much love - Sarah and Emma xx**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own the Maze Runner**

Ally sighed as she lifted her violin to play the same few bars again, hating certain members of the wind section who just could not count. Normally orchestra rehearsals were okay but this one seemed to be dragging on, not to mention that it was exceptionally hot today and everyone just wanted to be outside.

She played the few bars then put her violin down as the conductor focused on the clarinets. What was wrong with them today?

Ally felt her phone buzz in her pocket and hid it behind her violin as she unlocked the screen. Around her, the other string players were doing the same thing.

 _Meet me outside asap_

That was weird, surely Lyra should be in engineering seminars for the rest of the day and she knew Ally didn't finish till five.

Frantic whispering filled the room which quickly gave way to shouting as people got up and started packing their instruments away.

"What's going on?" Ally asked her desk partner who was sending a long stream of text messages.

"Solar flares, look at the news!"

Ally's confusion at the chaos around her grew stronger at the mention of solar flares. There had been solar flares in the past but nothing to cause panic. The most they could do was damage GPS systems.

Still, she followed everyone else and packed her case and headed outside as Lyra had told her. Even the conductor had left, and rehearsals were nearly over anyway. She was glad to get out.

Ally looked over to the Imperial university buildings to see if Lyra was there but the flood of people coming out of the Royal College of Music behind her forced her to move further into the square. She headed for their usual meeting place- the Royal Albert Hall, which both buildings sat in the shadows of.

Students were piling out of the surrounding buildings, some sprinting for the tube a few streets away and others were on their phones, staring at the sky as if they could stop the Sun's rays.

"What is going on Ly?" Ally asked again as she spotted her and walked up.

"Solar flares you idiot,"

"Yes, I know solar flares but why all the panic? We've had them before."

"These ones are far worse than before; can't you feel their heat already? People are saying we have around five hours until they strike. They don't even know what to do, everyone is going home and getting supplies, hoping if they stay inside it will be alright,"

"Then let's do that," Ally turned to walk to the tube station but Lyra grabbed her arm.

"We have to wait for Rhea, she's coming across the square now. Her art professor insisted they finish their pieces."

"Why couldn't we all just meet at the apartment, why meet here?"

Lyra sighed, clearly the idiocy of a non-science nerd was getting to her.

"See with the magnitude they are predicting it should be enough to set the taller buildings on fire and damage electrical transformers- staying in the city is not safe. Some solar flares have been known to go on for hours, think! The ice caps will melt, we have to get on a boat!"

Realisation hit Ally of the oncoming disaster.

"But we don't _have_ a boat!"

"I have a boat,"

"You have a boat?" Ally asked, sceptically,

Lyra nodded,

"Well let's go, come on!" Ally cried (albeit a bit sarcastically) as she spotted Rhea walking up to them, her bag full of art supplies weighing down on her shoulders. She pulled Lyra into the crowded streets.

"Hey, wait guys!" Rhea shouted as she began running after them.

The ran to South Kensington station where they managed to battle their way onto a District line train and stood in the crammed carriage.

"We have to get to Waterloo, then we can go to Portsmouth," Lyra said in a decisive manner.

Rhea and Ally looked at her confused, surely the best place to head was east.

"My father had a yacht which he kept in Portsmouth. He left it to me when he died. I have the keys, I grabbed them while waiting for you slugs. It's at least a five-crew ship but between the three of us, if we take down the front sail we should be able to manage."

The two girls looked at her sceptically.

"Look, it's better if we don't have to hijack a boat and involve anyone else. Who knows what is going to happen and I'm only getting on a boat with people I trust. Plus, I know how this boat works. Ally, you can be on navigation and Rhea, you can control the main sails. I'll hel- I'll steer,"

"Lyra don't you think this is a bit much?"

"No, they showed us the details in my class because none of us were concentrating on electrical transformers,"

Ally held up her arms (as much as she could in the crowded carriage), "Fine, I could do with a holiday anyway,"

Lyra looked less than impressed with Ally's attitude but didn't say anything else.

Despite what she had said Ally was happy to be getting off land. Something didn't feel right. As always, Lyra had been thinking two steps ahead of everyone else, she was annoying like that.

"But I don't understand why we can't just go back to the apartment."

It was Rhea this time, looking just as confused as Ally had been.

Sensing that Lyra was about to explode with stupidity of her flatmates, Ally quickly filled her in on what she had been told.

By the time they made it to Waterloo, Ally had figured that they had approximately four and a half hours left and of those hours, it would take two and a half hours to get to Portsmouth. She told the others her calculations and received a tight nod from Lyra and a slightly overwhelmed grimace from Rhea. Rhea really didn't know what to make of the situation, it was all too surreal.

The sheer volume of people migrating through the huge station made it easy to jump the barriers- although Ally struggled a bit with her violin case which she had somehow managed to bring along.

"Just leave it! We won't have a need for it on the boat, what are you planning to do, serenade the fish?" Lyra hissed as she helped Ally over the barrier.

"And you Rhea, leave the bloody art supplies!"

"NO!" They both shouted, both far too attached to their bags.

"I can't just cast Henry aside!"

"Ally, I've told you time and time again how weird it is that you have named your viola-"

"Violin,"

"Yes, fine, whatever. Rhea, you can't paint on a boat."

Rhea looked uncomfortable but conceded and put her bag down by the barriers after taking out her phone. Ally stood with her violin on her back defiantly.

They slipped onto the train at the front and began making their way down the train. It was packed, being a main line for all the commuters, which was perfect. If they got to the middle of the train then they might be able to make it down to Portsmouth without meeting a guard and having to buy tickets.

They settled themselves in an area between two carriages and sat down.

"We need supplies," Lyra said, "There's a saltwater converter on the boat so we don't need to worry about dehydration but we need food. Tins will be best of course-"

"Sunscreen." Rhea said suddenly.

"Well yes, I suppose,"

"And spare clothes,"

"Really Ally, you think of clothes now?"

"I'm not staying on a boat for an indefinite length of time with only the clothes I am wearing now."

"Okay, and there will be a first aid kit on the boat but I think extra bandages just in case. Torches and spare batteries as well."

"Soap at least. If we are going into an apocalyptic situation, I still want to maintain my personal hygiene,"

The list went on, until a list was written out and the girls debated on what they could probably do without.

"Weapons," Ally said after they had all been silent for some time.

Rhea looked at Ally like she was going crazy but Lyra looked thoughtful.

"Who knows what is going to happen, I just want to be prepared."

"I agree, but where from. We're in England, we have no firearm stores."

"Then knives will have to do. I don't care if it is a giant kitchen knife, we just need something."

The carriage slowly started emptying as they passed through the many stations. With each station, a new layer of dread set in.

"I've looked online for the nearest supermarket to the boatyard,"

"Good work Rhea. Ally, how much time do we have left?"

"By the time we get there, we should have an hour and a half and even then, that is just based on an approximation worked out by the combined thoughts of panicked students. We need to move quickly."

The girls rose to their feet as the train pulled into the station nearest the boatyard and Ally tightened the straps on her violin case. Lyra, having left all her bags back at Imperial bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to stretch her legs and get on with her plan. They quickly made their way into the streets and saw chaos. Stores had obviously been looted and curtains had been drawn in a hopeless way to keep out the sun. Cars had been horribly parked, stopping any easy flow of traffic and people ran from shadow to shadow- paranoid of the sun.

The girls saw some bikes parked in an alleyway and decided it would be faster than on foot.

Rhea led them to a Tesco superstore but Lyra stopped her as she jumped off her bike and started to race inside.

"A Tesco's? Classy,"

"It's the closest place!"

"Well it will have to do,"

"Is anyone in there?" Ally asked.

"I can't see any movement, just be on your guard."

They walked in and started moving between the aisles grabbing what they needed. Rhea grabbed a trolley as their arms became too full and the girls started to relax. It almost felt like they were doing their weekly shop.

"Guys, do we need sanitary towels?"

"Hmm, I dunno Rhea, is the Pope a Catholic?"

"But why can't we bring marshmallows?"

"We're trying to survive, not share stories around a camp fire Ally!"

"We need more first aid,"

"I don't like tinned food,"

"Stop sulking Ly. You will like them when it is the last thing we have to eat,"

"I will _not_ wear those horrible orange shorts,"

"Oh shut up, there's not a lot of choice in here. Grab those bikinis would you, you never know,"

"We definitely don't need scented candles, we're not having a romantic cruise,"

"I SAID NO MARSHMALLOWS!"

"Carving knives of cleavers?"

They were at the back of the shop looking at the range of kitchen knives when they heard a group of people walk in, talking loudly.

"We'll camp out in here, plenty of supplies."

The girls froze, all laughter wiped from their faces.

"What if anyone comes in,"

"Then we send them away,"

A horrible laugh echoed down the silent store and the girls' shivered. _Send them away_ would not be a kind decline.

Lyra started quietly making her way down the aisle slipping a carving knife from its packaging, Rhea following with the supplies. Ally grabbed another knife from the rack and followed behind.

"Aye! What you doing in here? Stop them, they got our stuff!"

Lyra ran forwards but Rhea was frozen.

"MOVE!" Ally shouted in her ear, pushing her after Lyra and grabbing the trolley.

Rhea and Lyra sprinted for the door but Ally saw a man run towards them from behind the tills. He was holding a wickedly sharp knife in his hands.

"Watch out!" Ally yelled, a few steps behind the others.

Rhea noticed the man first and pushed Lyra out of the way before the man could stab her in the back.

Ally watched as Lyra stabbed him in the arm. He yelped in pain and jumped back letting the girls race through the door. Ally followed as the man's companions ran from the shadows, trying to block her exit. She increased her speed and used the trolley to force her way through, making them jump out of the way as she barrelled past. She skidded onto the street and followed the others around the corner towards the boatyard.

Something was wrong. Rhea seemed to be leaning on Lyra for support as they raced down the road.

They pulled into a side street and Ally pushed in after them. Rhea was sitting up, leaning against the wall with a hand to her chest, blood flowing between her fingers.

"What's up Ly? What's wrong with her?"

Rhea had gone deathly pale.

"When she pushed me out the way, he got her instead. She's been stabbed in the chest and I don't know what to do. She's losing too much blood."

Ally knelt next to Rhea and pulled one of the bandages from the trolley.

"No, don't bother," Rhea panted "Don't waste them on me,"

"NO!" Lyra shouted, "This is ridiculous, you're not dying, we'll heal you,"

"You don't have the time, Ally, how much time is left?"

"Forty-five minutes," She whispered,

Rhea smiled weakly,

"I'm sorry. You have to go, we can't all die, how stupid would that be," She coughed and blood escaped from her lips. She breathed in another painful breath.

"You know I love you guys, right?"

A sob escaped from Lyra and she threw herself at Rhea, carefully hugging her around the neck. Ally felt the tears fall from her eyes and joined them. What the hell had just happened?

They pulled away and Lyra held her hand as Rhea's eyes began to close.

Then she was gone.

Her red hair falling limply in her face as she sat slumped against the dirty wall.

Ally pulled herself together first and dragged Lyra to her feet.

"We have to go,"

"We can't just leave her, we have to do something with her,"

"If we don't leave right now, we will join her! The Sun will take care of her soon enough. She wouldn't want us to die because we wouldn't leave, we have to survive for her,"

Lyra nodded and fiercely wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Then let's go,"

Lyra set off down the street, leading the way to the harbour where a small power boat would take them to the offshore pontoon where the yacht was moored.

It must have been a funny sight: Ally pushing the trolley and Lyra holding onto the side as they sprinted down the street. They skidded into the harbour and Lyra led them to her small powerboat.

"This? This is your boat?" Ally shouted in horror,

"This is how we _get_ to my boat, get in!"

They quickly loaded their supplies and set off, abandoning the trolley by the water. Time was passing and they would only just have time to get on and cast off before the flares hit, if everything ran exactly to time which it was sure not to.

Lyra steered the boat up to the pontoon and Ally unloaded the supplies as Lyra jumped on board one of the most luxurious yachts Ally had ever seen.

"When you said your Dad had a yacht, this is not what I was expecting. How many people can this hold?"

"Eight people, more if they sleep in the sitting room,"

 _Sitting room!_ "Can we really manage this by ourselves?"

"Not really, but we are going to have to. Maybe if you don't navigate and we do it the old-fashioned way with the compass then you can manage the main sails..."

"It's okay, Lyra. We can do this,"

She nodded as she helped Ally bring the supplies over the railings.

"You're going to cast off, get on board and then I'll use the motor to get us out of harbour. We'll pull away first before we open up the inside as we don't have much time but we won't use the motor once we're in open sea unless we really need to. Fuel is not going to be easy to get hold of,"

"Okay," Ally called back, nervous that they were leaving dry land, without knowing how long it would be.

She unwrapped the ropes as quickly as she could. The ropes were thick and heavy and the knots stiff from months disuse. She clambered aboard before the engine kicked in.

Ally sighed to herself they had just made it, they only had a few minutes left. The minutes quietly fell away inside her mind, counting down.

 _Tick, tick, tick_

Lyra had a grim look on her face as she steered between the narrow channels created by the other moored ships. They made it to the small entrance created by the natural harbour and soon they were out into the sea. Ally felt Lyra relax slightly, but suddenly the tension in her body returned as a loud bang sounded from behind her.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ally spun around. Poking his head out from between the doors of the hatch was a boy who looked around their age. His long, golden hair was wet, his clothes were damp and a thick white towel was slung across his shoulders. He looked very shocked to see the girls standing there. He stepped out of the hatch and raised his hands in a gesture intended as a peace offering.

"I'm Newt," he said,

"Well Newt," Lyra said, her face a mixture of anger and confusion, "get the hell off my boat!"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello everyone we're back and totally not procrastinating from A levels to write this. Enjoy! - Sarah and Emma xx**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

"Please, let me stay. I was only going to stay in harbour in case the flares make the sea levels rise."

"Well there are plenty of boats around, go find another one,"

Newt looked panicked,

"The flares could happen any minute, I don't want to burn alive whilst swimming!"

"Well tough, we have no room for hijackers on this yacht,"

"Lyra, we need the extra crew members, he could take over the sails."

"Why are you defending him! He stole my boat!"

"I wasn't going to-"

"Shut up, we don't know if he can be trusted,"

"You can, I promise,"

"Shut. Up. We don't have the supplies,"

 _Liar_

"I don't have much, but I brought some stuff in a dry bag, enough to last me a while,"

"Lyra, we need him,"

Lyra wasn't convinced but Ally saw the fear burning in his eyes. That sort of look couldn't be faked.

"Let him stay," Ally pleaded,

"Fine," Lyra said, frustrated, "but I hope you can sail because you have to work the main sails, Newt, whatever kind of name that it."

"Thank you," He breathed, "I know how to sail, not a yacht, but smaller stuff,"

"What did you sail," Lyra said, her curiosity leading her,

"Lazer Radial,"

"This is nothing like a Lazer, so you had better learn fast. If you're no use, I will throw you off this ship."

"We've run out of time, we have to go inside," Ally cut across. She had no idea what a Lazer Radial was and she frankly didn't care. Her internal ticking had finally stopped.

"Fine," Lyra said, cutting the engine, "we're not moving any further until the flares pass. Ally, how long after they finish before any possible tsunamis hit?"

"We're a good thousand or so miles from the Arctic so I'd say an hour, two hours max."

"Then we'll use that time to move even further out. If we can get far enough then we way be able to ride over the wave. I'll take the captain's rooms. Ally, you can have the front double. Newt, you can go in one of the bunk bed rooms- preferably as far away from me as you can. Ally may trust you but I still don't." She strode from the deck with an armful of supplies and a flip of her short, dark brown hair.

"Bloody hell, she's a fireball!" Newt exclaimed as he watched her walk away.

"Yeah, well I bet you didn't have the journey we had," Ally said bitterly. She had kept herself together for Lyra but now the weight of Rhea's death was slowly starting to sink in. She picked up as much of the stuff that was scattered on the deck as she could and Newt did the same before they made their way inside to dump it on the floor, they hastily repeated the journey with Lyra until all the things they'd scavenged were in before shutting the hatch behind them.

They seemed to be in a sort of living area filled with sofas and tables. In the corner was a desk with computer screens mounted on the wall- the navigation system. As Ally walked round she saw a narrow kitchen on the other side of the steps to the hatch.

Lyra pointed to the kitchen,

"At the end of the kitchen, there is a door, that's to my cabin. At the other end of the boat, at the front, is Ally's. Before you get there, there is another door on your left. That is where I'm putting you, far away from me, but first I need to get my stuff out of the wardrobe. Oh, and please put the towel back where you found it, much appreciated."

She walked to the front to get her stuff leaving Ally and Newt in the living room.

"Thank you, although I did think for a minute she was going to throw me into the sea," Newt said, breaking the brief silence.

"You're not safe quite yet, you still need to prove you can sail,"

He laughed nervously,

"Why do you trust me?"

"I don't completely but I saw the fear in your eyes and… I don't know, I knew you were telling the truth. Plus, we do need an extra person…"

"Why did you set off if you didn't have enough crew,"

"When we set off, we did,"

Ally turned her back to him so he wouldn't see the tears building up. She started taking the food to the kitchen and finding places for everything. Lyra reappeared holding a bundle of clothes and walked through the kitchen to her room.

Newt took that as his cue to move and picked up a tall, cylindrical bag from a corner and disappeared into the front.

It was strangely quiet. After the action-packed events of the last five hours the silence was welcome. Ally couldn't relax, each moment was too uncertain. At any moment, the flares could begin and who knew what was going to come after that. They had a stranger on their yacht who they had no choice now but to trust, and of course there was Rhea…

Ally finished putting away the last of the tins and, grabbing a random selection of clothes from the pile, disappeared into the front of the boat.

There were three doors. In the one to the left she could hear movements and the one to the right was revealed to be a bathroom. She continued straight ahead into a small room that was mostly occupied by a luxurious looking double bed, shaped to fit into the pointed front of the boat. Ally dumped the clothes at the foot of the bed and sat down beside them, drawing her knees up to her body and letting the movement of the boat on the water rock her gently as the tears began to fall.

On the other side of the boat in an identical position, Lyra was doing the same.

A blaze of light shot through the window.

The girls looked up and rose to their feet, wiping their eyes and making their way to the living room- determined to act like everything was fine for each other.

Lyra arrived first, pulling Ally into a giant hug as she entered the room.

"What's this for?"

"I just can't believe we're still alive, that's all," Lyra stated.

"Well let's wait until they finish before we celebrate." Ally countered

The two girls pulled apart as Newt entered, looking strangely excited.

"Have you seen the sky, it's amazing!"

Confused, the girls turned to the window and looked up.

The sky was a blaze of fire. The flames burned in every colour- constantly shifting and merging whilst tongues of fire escaped the mass and fell downwards, singeing the ground on the shore. It looked like the apocalypse.

"Rhea would have loved to paint this," Ally murmured.

"Rhea?" Newt asked, a bit cautiously.

"Our friend," Lyra said as the girls sat down on one of the sofas. Newt sat as far from the girls as he could in the other corner, wary of Lyra's constant glare.

"She should be here," she continued to Ally, "she should be here but she's not," Her tears beginning again.

"Was she your third crew member?"

"She was more than just crew! She was our friend, our flatmate, but she's dead. She died pushing me out the way of a paranoid idiot with a knife." Lyra was getting more and more worked up, she turned to face Ally,

"I killed her Ally, it should have been me! The knife was meant for me. I brought her here, I was trying to save her, but I failed,"

Ally tried to pull Lyra from the room, she knew Lyra wouldn't want Newt to see her like this. But Lyra fought her off, not wanting to be touched.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Newt started,

"Get out!" Lyra screamed,

He silently stood up and walked to his cabin.

Ally sat there, unsure of what to do as Lyra got control of herself.

It was like flipping a switch, as quickly as it had taken her to get worked up, she had calmed down.

Ally knew Newt hadn't meant to upset her, he hadn't known. He had been asking a reasonable question.

Why was she defending him in her head?

"Sorry for being all dramatic, it's been a long day,"

"Ly, you're not being dramatic at all. About Rhea-"

"Not right now," Lyra cut her off.

"He didn't mean to upset you, you know. He had no idea,"

"Why are you defending him, again?"

"I'm not!"

"I suppose you're right." Lyra said after a little pause.

They both jumped as a dull, thumping sound came from Newt's cabin.

Instantly Lyra tensed up again.

"What the hell is he doing in there, I swear to God if he damages this ship in anyway,"

"Lyra, Lyra, don't get worked up again. I'll go talk to him. You are forgetting we are in the middle of a global catastrophe, he's probably lost people as well. Plus, he probably thinks you're going to cast him overboard as soon as the flares end,"

"Who says I'm not,"

"You can't, you know that. Unfortunately, we need him,"

Ally walked over to Newt's cabin and knocked on the door.

"Why the hell are you being polite? Just go in," Lyra called from behind her.

Rolling her eyes, Ally did as she was told.

"I suppose you've come to tell me I have to get off the boat,"

Newt stood facing the wall, not turning around to face her.

"Oh stop being so dramatic, you're as bad as Lyra," she said as she shut the door behind her.

"Although if you keep hitting the wall then you might,"

Newt turned around, his eyes were red and he looked rather embarrassed.

"I'm sorry about your friend, I didn't want to upset you both- I had no idea,"

"I know you didn't. Lyra's calmed down now, she doesn't normally get that angry,"

"No, that I get, What I don't understand is why you are not shouting and crying with her. You may not feel as much guilt as Lyra obviously feels but you still lost a friend."

"Somebody has to keep it together,"

"I heard you crying, Ally, you can pretend for Lyra but you can't pretend to yourself. Who takes care of you?"

"What I do is none of your concern. I can take care of myself." Ally was furious with herself as tears threatened to start again. Why was she getting worked up now?

"Hey, no more bloody tears. There's more salt water in this boat than in the sea at the moment,"

"Well you've obviously been crying yourself,"

"Yeah, well... I thought you were kicking me off, I was scared,"

 _Liar_

"Luckily for you we need any extra crew we can get. Anyway, where would you go?"

He was silent for a second.

"Why do you keep defending me?"

"Honestly, I have no idea,"

Ally turned around and opened the door.

"Look, when you want to tell me the real reason you were crying, come find me," she tossed over her shoulder.

"What did he say," Lyra asked as Ally sat back down next to her.

"He was just scared you were going to chuck him off,"

"Jesus, I hope he man's up a bit before the real work starts,"

Ally snorted and rolled her eyes.

The two sat in a comfortable silence as the cabin slowly started heating up. There was nothing to do but wait it out.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Aaand we're back, enjoy chapter 3 ;) Sarah and Emma xx**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

It felt like it would never end, each minute steadily increasing the temperature of the cabin making it nearly impossible to breathe. The thick jeans and t-shirts the girls had arrived in were gradually replaced with sports bras and shorts they found in their supplies but the lack of clothing did little to cool them down. Ally thought they were going to die in this cabin, she didn't think they could last much longer. They drank water from the saltwater converter but it was warm and in no way refreshing. Lyra hadn't moved in the last half an hour, staring out the window and trying to spot any sign that the flares were close to finishing.

Ally had reset her mental timer as soon as the flares had begun. Two hours she had predicted before the melt water would hit them. Time was running out and they were still far too close to land for her liking.

A door clicked and she looked up as Newt walked in.

"Have you seen any change?" Lyra asked without looking away from the sky.

"No,"

He sat down cautiously on the opposite sofa, still looking at Lyra.

"But I don't like our position. We have to move before the melt water hits," he said, acting as if he had never left the room and ignoring Ally.

"You don't get to make judgements like that," Ly said sharply,

She let out a long sigh,

"But you're right. We can't risk going out on top just yet though," Lyra replied,

"I think it's dying down, I've been watching the thermometer on the navigation system. The temperature hasn't risen for the past ten minutes," Ally said quietly.

"And you didn't think to mention this earlier?" Newt sneered,

"I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining it." She snapped back,

As if to prove her right, a small break in the flares showed a patch of blue sky.

"How long Ally?" Lyra asked,

"45 minutes,"

"Just enough time to get further from the coast and get the sail down again,"

"We're not going to get far enough! We have to get out of the channel and that's going to take longer than that." Newt butted in,

"Well what's your plan then?"

He stayed silent.

"Exactly,"

She sighed heavily through her nose.

"If we are going to move, we have to go now. The deck is going to burn like hell though. Ally, I want you to get the jib- erm the front sail up, we don't need the navigation system. Newt, time to prove you can be useful,"

Lyra stood up and made her way up to the deck snatching up a pair of sunglasses from the counter. As she pushed open the hatch a wave of blisteringly hot air washed over them and the blinding light burnt their eyes.

They quickly made their way to their positions. Each passing minute increased the low-lying panic in Ally's chest. Lyra helped Newt haul up the mainsail as Ally set to work on the jib and then they were off, sailing on the harsh winds of the solar flares.

Sweat dripped from her as the Sun continued to thrash around the sky. She was hotter than she had ever thought possible. But she was right, it was calming down. Patches of blue were visible but the heat remained. They worked together, guiding the boat away from the coast and south west until there was nothing but a smudge of land on either horizon. They continued until Ally guessed they were in the widest part of the channel.

She heard Lyra shout to take down the sails and Ally looked to see no land visible on the horizon. Hopefully they had gone far enough. They had also used more time than she liked.

She was almost too hot to function, her head spinning as she used all her strength to haul down her sail and tack it down. 5 minutes, that's all they had. Not long enough.

She looked up as she finished, a dull roar filling her ears. The narrow opening (compared to the Atlantic Ocean) had forced the tsunami to gather into a high powered, awesome force of nature, the rise and fall of the water so great it formed a giant wall. It was faster than anything she had ever seen.

She screamed her warning as she spun to tell the others, thankful to see they had finished with the main sail before the wave struck. She didn't have time to get back inside and instead, Ally swung her arms around the front railing, swearing as the hot metal burned the bare skin on her arms and stomach, as the wave caught them and threw them back towards the shore. The sound of the rushing water filled her ears, blocking out all other sounds as they crashed back down onto the water, nearly capsizing as water flooded over the sides, the water still quite cold and soothed her burning skin. The wave continued onwards without them, heading straight towards the coast but also towards a smaller wave coming from the east side of the channel. Ally's eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen.

Lyra and Newt started sprinting to the hatch from where they had latched themselves onto the railings and Ally followed, having to run around the length of the boat. Lyra made it safely in and Ally saw Newt hesitate by the hatch, watching her. She was nearly there, running along the edge when the shock waves from the tsunami's collision hit. She heard the hatch slam down but she didn't have time to grab onto the railing as she was flung from the boat and into the cooling sea.

The water was dragging her down as she was battered by the waves. It was too choppy to swim against and she could feel her head spinning with the exertion of keeping her from sinking. She saw black spots appear in her vision and cursed the sun that had drained her energy. A distant splash was all she heard as her tired limbs began to slow against her will and she felt herself begin losing consciousness. She knew she didn't have long until she blacked out.

Newt didn't have time to shout a warning to Ally before the second wave hit. He only had time to drop down into the hatch. He heard it slam close after him, and Ally's scream.

"Where is she, what happened?" Lyra frantically questioned.

He lifted his head from the floor and started.

"Lyra, you're bleeding!"

A little trickle of blood was running down the side of her head. She lifted a hand and gingerly touched her head.

"I hit my head on the corner of the desk, I'll live. Where is Ally?"

He stood up and quickly climbed onto the deck again. Lyra scrambled up after him.

Panic flooded into him,

"I think she's overboard, I can't see her,"

"I have to rescue her, she'll die! I can't lose another one."

"Blood is running down the side of your face. You're not swimming with a head injury that serious or I'll be left on a boat in the middle of the sea with no crew. I'll go and bloody get her."

She looked like she would slap him but controlled her anger. Frustration flared in her eyes instead.

"Fucks sake I hate that you're right. Why are you still here? Go!"

He ran to the railing before she finished. He got to where he had last seen her and scanned the water. She had to be there somewhere. Lyra stood next to him, her panic written all over her face.

"There!" She shouted, pointing at a small figure 50 meters away, barely able to keep their head above the water.

"I'll put down the anchor," Lyra shouted, running to the other side of the boat.

He dove into the water as he had done many times before and set out to the figure as fast as he could. The water battered him but he fought against it, using all his strength to continue forwards.

He knew Lyra would never have made it there and back in these conditions and if both had drowned then he would have been stranded God only knows where with a limited knowledge of sailing and no way of moving the boat by himself.

He scanned the sea when he reached where he thought he had last seen her but she seemed to have disappeared. He dove under the water, feeling for her under the waves. He rose to the surface, lungs aching for air and surveyed the water as he filled his lungs. A flash of murky gold hair caught his eye and he dived, relief flooding him as his arms found Ally, barely able to keep herself afloat.

She looked shocked to see him.

"Can you swim still?"

"Not for much longer," she sounded exhausted but at least she was still conscious.

He grabbed her arm, half dragging her back to the boat.

The boat seemed miles away, the current having pulled them further away. Exhaustion set into Newt's own limbs as he inched closer to the boat, he didn't think he was going to make it. Each breath was harder than the last. By the time he made it to the boat he could hardly see, scarily close to fainting and drowning them both. He could feel Ally kicking next to him but her energy was just as drained as his own. He heard Lyra's voice directing him to the ladder on the side of the boat and hardly noticed as Ally was half helped, half dragged off him. He tried to pull himself up the ladder and nearly slipped when a small pair of hands grabbed his wrists and helped him onto the deck. The feeling of the hot wood on his cheek was all he felt before he blacked out himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hi! My exams started today... but at least I've got you all an update! Enjoy- Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

Ally felt incredibly weak and just wanted to get inside and rest. She tried to sit up and instantly vomited sea water and God knows what else onto the deck.

"Hey hey," Lyra said, supporting her and helping her sit up, "you very nearly drowned, you scared the life out of me!" Her voice caught and guilt struck Ally in the chest, even though there had even nothing she could have done.

She gasped as she noticed the blood on her friend's head.

"Lyra!"

"It's stopped bleeding, don't fuss,"

She laughed to herself.

"You nearly die and you're still more concerned about me," Lyra muttered to herself, "I thought I had failed you both."

Ally grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

She had a vague memory of someone dragging her towards the boat, someone who had been more powerfully built that Lyra and had been able to pull her through the harsh waves...Newt.

She lifted her head and saw the boy lying on his front right by the ladder.

"He passed out as soon as he got on deck, the waters were difficult," Lyra told her,

Ally could see the guilt still lining Lyra's eyes but didn't have the words in that moment to offer any comfort.

"We can't leave him... on the deck," Ally mumbled, trying not to fall asleep again as she crawled towards him, not trusting her legs and shook his shoulder. He grunted in response and slowly opened his eyes. His eyes widened as he registered her.

He opened his mouth to say something but started violently coughing up salt water instead.

"Thank you," she said once he had finished. She wanted to say more but the overwhelming feeling to lie down and sleep tugged on her brain,

"You can't stay here,"

He nodded, understanding what she meant and let Lyra help him to his feet and guide him to the hatch. Ally dragged herself up on the railing and made her way inside. She just made it to her bed before she fell asleep again.

It was a good few hours before either Ally or Newt stirred on the boat. Lyra had seen to her head once she was certain Ally hadn't sustained any other injuries. It was deeper than she had first suspected but easy enough to clean up. Annoyingly Newt had been right to make her stay in the boat, she had felt very dizzy just from dropping down the anchor and had had to lie down in the deck for a few minutes until she could bring herself back to the railing. But she still had hated the feeling of placing her friend's life in a stranger's hands.

Once she had seen to herself she checked the boat over while the others slept and fixed the simpler damages. The problem was the generator for the navigation system. It looked like an internal wire had come loose when they had been battered by the tsunami but she was tired herself and didn't trust herself to fix it well enough in her current state. They couldn't move without the navigation system though. With so much water now covering the land, it was their only way of making it safely through the dangerous waters.

The sound of someone moving around in Ally's room and walking to the shower told her she was awake.

She looked out of a window at the sky, it was gradually returning to normal and looked more like a cloudy sunset in the middle of summer than the last waves of an apocalypse. She doubted there would be many pretty things to see for a long time so climbed the ladder to the deck to watch the colours melt in the sky.

Ally woke up where she had collapsed onto her bed, still in her sodden clothes. The cabin was still unbearably hot but definitely cooling down. She wondered if the salt water converter was working enough to have a shower.

The cool water washed the salt residue off her, washing away everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. It was all so unlikely, she could hardly comprehend that earlier on this day she had been playing her violin in another warm room on dry land. Many other thoughts crowded into her head, demanding attention but she cast them aside, opening her mouth to sing instead. No one would hear her in the shower and it always helped her clear her mind. She sang a song she had learned what felt like a life time ago in a church that was likely drowned under water. It was about sailors working alone in great waters and seeing the wonders of the oceans. But they weren't sailors, they were students. She had navigated a few times on holiday with Lyra but it had always been under supervision. All she wanted was to make it back to dry land and never see the sea again.

Once she felt clean she found some dry clothes and walked out of her room to find Lyra. She eventually found her looking at the sky, leaning against the railing at the back of the boat.

"Hey!" She called.

"Hi."

Ally didn't know where to start.

"What's she called then?"

"Calypso III," Lyra replied, her eyes still on the horizon.

"Calypso, as in the nymph from the Odyssey?"

"Yeah, my Dad's first boat was called Calypso, then I named my first boat after it. She served me well and now her sister will save us,"

"Thank you, for trying to save us,"

"But I didn't, Rhea is already dead and you nearly drowned, my head injury is the only reason I didn't go after you and now I owe Newt,"

"And I owe him my life, I will not forget that. But you did try to save Rhea. Her death was a freak accident, no one saw it coming, let's just get somewhere safe."

"I never knew for certain there would be a tsunami, what if I had been wrong, what if the flares had just passed over and there was no tsunami," she admitted,

"I know you didn't believe that, if you did then you wouldn't have made all that effort to get here otherwise, you're not that paranoid,"

"You're right," Lyra finally turned to face Ally, a determined but tired look on her face.

"Let's go inside, you shouldn't be out here for too long, the Sun is still scorching,"

Lyra looked one last time at the horizon then followed Ally back into the cabin.

Newt had woken up whilst they had been up on deck and was waiting for them in the main area when they got down.

There was an awkward pause as no one knew what to say. What does one say when you all just about survived a natural disaster of vast proportions and the future of the world is a big unknown?

"Okay, so what's the deal with the name Newt?" Lyra quizzed,

You carry on as if nothing has changed.

"I knew this was going to come up sooner or later," Newt said, rolling his eyes.

The girls stared pointedly at him,

"Okay, okay. My name is John Newton but since John is so bloody boring I got myself a nickname,"

Lyra burst out laughing.

"Out of all the nicknames you could have created, you chose that!"

"Hey I didn't come up with it," he said

"Right," Lyra mumbled, trying to hide her smile.

"Well you've hardly got popular names yourselves. What are your excuses?"

"We have rich parents who never wanted children so packed us off to boarding school as soon as they could. Of course we have ridiculous names," Lyra joked.

"I just thought that happened in the books! Was it all midnight feasts and awful school uniforms?"

"We are in the 21st century you know, things have progressed since the 50s,"

"Okay okay, so Lyra isn't short for anything I don't think, but Ally?

Alicia maybe or Alana?"

"It's Allegra,"

"Allegra? I've never even heard of that!"

"Says the boy named after pond life," Ally shot back,

"I have to admit Ally, Allegra is a weird name, even by our standards," Lyra said,

"Are you sure? I think Annette Curtain wins, at least my parents didn't name me after the first thing they saw when I was born!"

"Okay, point taken. But still, you sound like that poncy dressage horse Annabel was always going on about,"

"You mean Valegra? What's wrong with that, that horse is a superstar,"

"And the secret private school girl rears its head,"

The girls laughed while a rather confused Newt looked on,

"Well, actually, I think once the initial shock has worn off, it's alright," Newt offered, Ally couldn't tell if he was trying to be nice or if he actually meant it,

"Really? You are the first person to ever say that," She beamed at

him, "See, not everyone thinks it is awful Lyra,"

"Whatever you say," she said, shrugging.

There was another pause but this one was more relaxed,

"So, what's our plan?" Newt asked bluntly after a while,

"We'll sleep here tonight. Tomorrow we will assess our situation and head east, following the old shore line" Lyra said, everything already figured out as usual.

"And in the long term?"

"We carry on until we find somewhere where we want to stay."

Ally looked out the window. The last of the flares were still flickered in the sky and the sun was a retreating fireball, sinking slowly into the sea. "Look, I know you two have only just woken up but I am exhausted. Night guys," Lyra said, standing up,

Ally stood up and pulled Lyra into a hug.

"We're alive Lyra, you were right."

"I was right," she murmured into Ally's shoulder.

"Thank you,"

Lyra squeezed her then pulled away and headed to her room.

"Just don't thank me just yet. Who knows what is going to happen,"

"Goodnight," Ally said to the darkening cabin as Lyra's door clicked behind her.

"I'm not tired," Ally said as she turned to face Newt.

"Neither am I. Do you want to go sit outside, it's stuffy in here and the Sun is finally setting?"

She nodded and they made their way out.

They sat on the deck at the front of the boat, watching the last remnants of the sun shift below the horizon.

"Thank you, for saving me. I can't believe you did it, you could have died,"

"If Lyra went she would have died before she even reached you and then I would have been stranded in the middle of the sea,"

"I see," Ally said quietly,

"And I do have a sense of common decency as well!"

"Really?"

He laughed,

"Still don't trust me, A-lleg-ra?" he dragged her name out, light dancing in his eyes,

"Well..erm...hey, don't mock me!"

She was getting flustered, she had to change the subject, fast.

"You say you come from the streets of Portsmouth, how did you learn how to sail?" She blurted out.

"I worked in the shipyard. It was while mending the boats that I studied how they worked. I've always loved the water and I've wasted so many hours watching the sailing boats out at sea. In exchange for doing extra work, fixing boats that needed repairing overnight etc I got them to pay me by teaching me the basics of sailing instead of cash."

"That's a respectable way of doing it. How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't think I could have learnt respectably?" He actually seemed a bit angry.

"Oh relax, I believe you,"

He smiled and shook his head. His eyes glazed over as they stared at the endless sea.

"You sing rather well Ally,"

Ally jumped and felt her blood run cold.

"You heard," she hissed,

"It's not my fault, the walls are really thin,"

She blushed "I didn't think anyone could hear me…"

"I'm not complaining. Well, actually, I am. Can you at least wait until I'm awake before you start singing ghostly songs about sailors?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and tried to think of something to say.

"I can't sing. Well, that's what Alby says- "

He cut himself off and immediately tensed up. Ally opened her mouth when he spoke across her.

"What did you and Lyra do before?" A hurried question of someone trying to change the conversation. Ally was confused but played along.

"I was at music college and Ly was studying engineering and Rhea-" she choked on her name, "Rhea was at art school. We went to secondary school together and lived in an apartment in London. Lyra's Dad owned this boat and when he died he gave the keys to her, it was our only chance when she heard of the solar flares. She's always taken care of us, always one step ahead."

"And yet she always asks you for the time,"

"I found it helps to know exactly how much time you have before something big happens, it helps you to make the most of what time you have. My internal clock never stops, they- Lyra knows that,"

He sat, waiting for her to carry on.

"Everything was going well. Until we stopped to get supplies. We were at the back of a supermarket when we heard a gang come in, we had grabbed knives off the shelves but that was all we had. One man went for Lyra but Rhea pushed her out the way and took the knife to her ribs, I followed with the stuff. She died minutes later outside in an alley."

A tear dripped down Ally's face for her lost friend. They sat in silence.

"I've lost people too," Newt said quietly, shocking Ally slightly, "be happy that you haven't lost everyone."

He stood up and left leaving Ally alone with her thoughts.

Below, their captain slept uneasily, scared of the task of leading them all on a voyage where no one knew what they were looking for.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello!- Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runnner**

Lyra woke up the next morning, her misty morning brain keeping the events of yesterday hidden for a handful of blissful moments. Sadly, they still hit her in full force after a few seconds.

"Shit." She muttered, sitting up in her bed.

She was instantly awake and her plan of action she had created last night flooded back to her. She knew they should head north, all the land in the south was low lying and would never be seen again, and they would have to dock at some point to grab more supplies. However, with Newt's supplies as well they should have enough for a month at a stretch. A months travelling should get them at least to Newcastle but who knew what the weather would be like. The flares had seriously pummelled the atmosphere and there was significantly more liquid water around than there had been a day before.

Any survivors on land would not be friendly either or likely to hand over supplies. They would have to prepare for that as well. She hated how everything was so uncertain, so many variables could happen.

Her priority was fixing the navigation system though. She had vaguely heard the others come down the hatch last night through her uneasy sleep. She really hoped Ally hadn't repaid Newt like the women in the cheesy romance novels that Lyra detested.

After dressing in clean clothes and checking her head she grabbed her toolkit and walked into the main room.

She was right, a wire had come loose in the navigation system but it was easy enough to fix if you knew how. Luckily two years studying electronic engineering hadn't been completely wasted on her. She tidied up, grabbed some rations and walked over to Ally's room. They needed to get going.

"Wake up!" She yelled, jumping onto the bed beside a very dishevelled looking Allegra. Ally was definitely not a morning person.

"Eat your breakfast and get dressed, we need to get going,"

Unintelligible mumbling came from the sleepy girl's lips but she sat up anyway and grabbed the cereal bar.

"I heard you come back from the deck last night with someone else..." Lyra stated suggestively.

Ally's eyes widened and suddenly her ability to speak came back.

"Jesus Ly, I barely know the guy, are your expectations of me really that low!"

The anger in her voice was really hard to take seriously when her hair was a nest and she was hunched over her food like a squirrel over a nut. The image was so bizarre Lyra burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Relax, I'm teasing. But seriously, what were you doing?"

"Just talking. About life before all this I guess,"

"Cheese! So you exchanged sob stories and are now best friends?"

"Erm, well it was mostly me talking and then dealing with his mood swings, and we're not really friends at all and I think I pissed him off,"

Flustering Ally was one of Lyra's favourite hobbies. She reached out and ruffled the golden brown mess before standing up.

"No need to get so worked up, I'll go wake up the other five year old,"

She scampered out of the room just before the surprisingly well aimed cereal bar could hit her, laughing.

"You've only proved my point!" Ly shouted over her shoulder,

She loudly banged on Newt's door and shouted at him to get his arse out of bed before walking into the living room to wait for them, in a considerably better mood than she had been a couple of minutes before.

Fifteen minutes later they were all gathered in the main room in various states of wakefulness. Newt couldn't help but notice Ally's slightly murderous stare and the mischievous glint in Lyra's eyes.

He raised a confused eyebrow to Ally and she opened her mouth to speak but Lyra cut her off.

"Finally, we're all up, let's get going. I've already turned on the nav system and we've drifted west, near Bournemouth. I want to get to Brighton by the end of the day if we can. We'll put the mainsail up and leave down the jib, Ally, you stay down here and find us a safe route,"

Lyra spoke the words with confidence but her eyes were filled with the uncertainty they all felt. No one made a move towards the hatch. Ally slowly walked over to Lyra and gently pushed her towards the hatch,

"Let's go then,"

Her quiet voice seemed to break the spell and the boat became a bustle of activity. In no time at all the anchor was lifted and the boat was speeding through the water.

Ally's regular updates kept them away from the hidden land and Lyra's guidance helped Newt keep the sail at the best angle to the wind. The wind was very powerful and unpredictable. It changed direction without warning and dropped in power with no notice whatsoever. Ally took over at the helm while Lyra ate but that was the only movement from their positions all day. Yet they didn't make as much progress as Lyra had hoped before the sun started to set.

Through all that time, not a single bit of land had been viewed by anyone although Ally assured them they were only 10km from the old coast line. It was a strange sort of isolation, knowing land was there but only being able to see blue that faded into the sky. It was like being inside a sphere and it was impossible to judge how far they had gone.

Lyra gave the signal to stop and set down the anchor. The Sun had just begun to lower in the sky and soon they would lose their visibility. Not that there was anything to see.

Newt ached all over, he had been wishing Lyra would call for a stop an hour beforehand. Well, what he guessed to be an hour. He had no way of telling and time was all relative now.

He slowly made his way down the hatch and collapsed onto one of the sofas. Ally hung up her headset and laid her head on her desk. Why was she tired? She hadn't done any physical labour?

Lyra joined them and they sat in silence for a while.

"How far have we come?" She asked,

"We've not made it to Brighton. We're still a couple of miles down the coast," Ally spoke, raising her head from the desk.

 _What?_

"How come? We've been making good progress all day!" He said,

"The water is still settling, running off the land and the underwater currents are crazy. I've been trying to keep us away from the old coastline but we kept drifting and not to mention the wind constantly changing and-" Ally stopped herself, frustration pouring off her.

"It's going to take a lot longer than I thought if this is the case," Lyra spoke, looking a less confident than she had that morning.

"The water should settle soon but I hate to think what has happened to the weather system,"

"I just think that we could get a lot further if Ally wasn't down here staring at a screen all day but doing some actual work and controlling the jib," He said angrily,

"You think I've got the easy job down here? I have to take into account the water depth, the underwater currents which are constantly changing, wind speeds, not to mention there are no visual markers from the coast. I've been using an old map alongside all the other information to try and work out where we are on the old coastline - all so we don't end up completely lost, far from land and slowly running out of supplies or scraping over a town and sinking. So I'm sorry if your arms ache but deal with it,"

"Okay you two calm down," Lyra drawled, "it's day one, let's make sure we get to shore before we kill each other,"

Newt opened his mouth but quickly closed it.

"I'm going to have a shower."

And with that he walked out.

Ally was frustrated and mentally exhausted. She knew the others had been working hard all day but her brain was fried.

"Sorry Ly, I know it's not been easy on deck," she said once Newt had left.

"It's bloody hot, that's what it is. You were right though, you're still having to work, just in a different way. But it's frustrating, I felt like we had travelled so much further…"

"I didn't believe it either but I double checked."

"What are we doing Ally?"

Ally looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"We're surviving,"

"But what's the point? Most of the Earth is underwater, what's left of civilisation will be nothing like what we know. From now on its survival, there won't be time to take a holiday and relax. Is there any point carrying on?"

Before she could blink, Ally quickly slapped her.

"Don't you dare think about not carrying on. We can get through this. It's been, what? Less than a day since the flares stopped. We're going to find land where we want to stay and rebuild. We can make our own civilisation-"

Lyra snorted. "Yeah the three of us, brilliant community that is,"

"We'll find others. We can make our own rules. Stop bloody rolling your eyes. It's cheesy I know but it's true. Think of the futures we can build for ourselves. You can design our buildings and create all sorts of wonderful inventions. Isn't that worth carrying on for?"

"Not if there is no one to pass it onto,"

"Oh Lyra, that can easily be sorted out,"

Lyra laughed out loud then.

"Okay okay you've convinced me. Just, please don't mention a breeding program for the human race just yet,"

Ally looked scandalised.

"No, no, that's not what I meant-"

"Sure it's not." Ly giggled.

Ally was still red when Lyra left to have a shower. She wandered back to her own room and got into the clothes she was using as pajamas. Even though she had convinced Lyra there was a point to carrying on at the moment, her words had struck her more than she cared to admit.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Just a short mid-week update, sorry it's a bit late! Anyway, get ready for Sunday ;)**

 **Disclaimer- Don't own maze runner**

And so it continued, day after day. Moving a bit further along the old coastline, fighting the water running off the land with nothing to see but clear blue water. They were the only people in the world it seemed.

Ally and Lyra swapped jobs now and again, to give the other a break from the Sun (much to Newt's annoyance) but it did little to alleviate the boredom that was slowly sinking in. With nothing to look at and only each other to talk to, tempers were quick to fray but arguments quick to resolve. There was nothing else to do.

It took just over a week before the water finally started to settle. On that evening Lyra and Newt stumbled into the cabin as they usually did, red from the Sun and more than exhausted. But instead of being greeted by an equally weary Ally, she was grinning instead.

"What's going on? Have you finally gone mad?" Lyra asked, slightly disturbed by her expression.

"The water levels are starting to go down again,"

Lyra's mouth fell open, not quite believing the words she had been hoping for all week.

"You sure that isn't because we're over land?"

"No, we're still technically out at sea. I've been checking all day and I'm sure."

"Does this mean we'll be able to get off this boat soon?"

"I doubt it Newt," Ally said with a sigh, "I have no idea where the new coast line will be, but we will be better off searching further north for higher ground,"

"You that keen to be rid of us Goldie boy?" Lyra teased, narrowing her eyes and smirking.

"I'm counting down the seconds," he grinned,

"So we have a decision to make," Ally cut across, "We are currently in the Norfolk area, it's a very flat part of the country so we either keep following the old coast line or head west to find the new one,"

"We have enough supplies for two more weeks, we could keep heading north," Newt.

"That could end up being risky if we arrive on land further up with little supplies and can't find any more," Lyra said,

"Following a new coast line will increase our chances of finding supplies,"

"But also a higher chance of being suddenly stranded if the water level drops a lot, Ally!"

"I don't know why you're getting angry Ly,"

"Because you're not thinking!"

"That is not true-"

"GIRLS!" Newt shouted out, "You're doing it again,"

They shot each other a quick glare.

"So, what are we doing?" Newt asked.

A pause of silence filled the room and Ally found herself looking to Ly, it was her boat after all.

"Let's find the new coast line. Anything on land must be better than this constant blue, but we play it safe, travel along old rivers, never get too close to shore."

"It's settled then," Ally confirmed.

The three returned to their comfortable silence, letting the gentle rocking of the boat wash over them.

"Does someone want to get the food out?" Newt mumbled,

Ally snorted, he was always the first one to think about eating.

"You said it, get up!" She replied.

"I should have seen that coming," he muttered as he pulled himself up and grabbed a few tins from the kitchen shelf.

"Are we still not allowed to use the stove Lyra?" He called, a mischievous smile lighting up his eyes.

Instantly Lyra was sat upright and indignant,

"How many more times, we are not wasting fuel on heating food up. If you're that bothered go leave it on deck. Honestly, first you hijack my ship and then you try and waste _my_ fuel on heating up _my_ food for yourself to eat-"

She broke off from her mini rant to see Ally and Newt laughing uncontrollably.

"I walked into that one, didn't I," she admitted, instantly calm.

It was strange how quickly Newt had been accepted by the two girls. The loss of Rhea was still fresh but they were unable to keep him out, especially when they had to trust one another to make things work. It wasn't completely one sided either, the girls were alright, when they weren't bickering.

Even though they finally had a plan and some good news, tiredness swept over them all and they fell into bed as they had done every other day.

Lyra quickly fell asleep, as did Newt, but Ally was left awake. Was she right? Was the water receding? And could she safely navigate them over actual land? There were so many uncertainties and she knew that all of their lives were in her hands. In the past, the three of them had always looked out for each other as no one else would and whilst she may have lost Rhea, she still had Lyra. And, she supposed, she had Newt now. But 'looking out for' had now turned into 'keeping alive'. And the responsibility was far greater than anything she had had to do before.

Doubtful and scared, Ally also fell asleep.

The next day they started their journey west. The progress was even slower than before as they had to sail slowly under Ally's advice. Lyra looked for signs of coast but all she saw were tips of towers and trees now and again. It was like some weird landscape from an expressionist painting. The closer inland they got, the more rubbish they found floating on the surface- everything from general rubbish to whole trees and car parts. But still no sign of any other boats.

They stopped for lunch for once on Lyra's call and Ally brought their food up from below deck. The landscape had changed from the endless blue bubble to a polluted and imperfect one. But she liked this one better, it felt more human, more corrupt.

"It's been over a week and still no rain," Lyra moaned,

"Never mind rain, I just want a cloud," Newt said running his fingers through his matted hair. Somehow it still looked good, Ally noted. And evidently at some point she had noted his hair looked good before.

"I predict there's going to be a massive storm any day now. There must be. I swear it is getting hotter,"

"There better be, at this rate we will run out of sunscreen by next week."

"Not that it makes a difference, I'm still burnt," he complained.

"That's because you refuse help and miss half of your back," Ally pointed out.

He shot her a sideways glance, "I do not. And anyway, I am 20 years old, I can put sunscreen on myself. Why are you watching me anyway?"

Ally blushed to her annoyance,

"I just noticed that's all-"

"Ally, shut up before you embarrass yourself," Lyra cut across, "where are we now?"

"A couple of miles inland," Ally replied, grateful for the change in subject, "we should be over Norwich by sunset,"

"That's not very far," She frowned.

"That's because I don't want to suddenly crash the boat into a tower or something. It's hard to quickly manoeuvre at higher speeds and we have no way to repair the hull without land to moore on first."

"It's just frustrating," Newt said, staring at the horizon where land should be appearing.

"It is," the girls admitted.

"Let's set off again,"

So they did, crawling along at a snail's pace. They did make it to Norwich that night but there was no way of recognising it.

The next morning, Newt knocked on Ally's door, earlier than they usually emerged holding a sunscreen bottle and looking marginally embarrassed. When he saw her questioning eyebrow (and ignoring her astonishingly messy bed hair) he just sighed and turned around, revealing a particularly bad patch of sunburn in the middle of his back, just where his fingers couldn't reach.

He tensed as she laughed.

"So once again I was right-"

"Just shut up,"


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Drama! Excitement! Get ready for some familiar faces... I'd really like to know what you think of this chapter, any criticism is welcome! - Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

When Lyra spotted Newt walking out of Ally's room she was less than impressed.

"What the-"

"Sunscreen," Newt cut across, rolling his eyes.

Lyra raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he stepped around her and walked to the kitchen, shaking his head.

She almost grabbed his arm as he walked past,

"Seriously, what was that?"

"Stop being so bloody protective, alright. She can take care of herself,"

"Alright, I know, but… just not on my ship," Lyra said with a wince,

"You've guessed my plans! You know me too well Ly," Sarcasm was dripping from his voice, "Sneak into her room at night, make love under the stars-"

"Ew! Ew, gross," Lyra said throwing up her hands, "Stop, just please stop,"

"You know," Newt said, a teasing grin on his lips, "That's the first time I have heard you say please. I'm _so_ going to have to make you uncomfortable more often,"

He winked and she gagged.

"Am I interrupting something here?" Ally said in a sharp tone as she walked out of her room,

They both looked at her with surprise. An awkward silence fell, until Lyra finally said,

"What?"

"Whatever, I'm hungry," Ally said, walking around them both to the kitchen.

The day continued onwards as the others had done, utterly boring. When Ally swapped with Lyra for her lunch break she finally had a chance to see where they were heading. She squinted, surely they should be able to see land by now?

"There's nothing there," Newt called over,

"I don't understand, where are the other boats, why can't we see anything?"

He shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine,"

There was a pause as she strained her eyes.

"Could it be that we are the only people left?"

He snorted, "I hope not,"

"Charming,"

Something was off about him today. Ever since she had walked in on him and Lyra...

"Is everything alright over there?" She said, looking at him and his sail,

"What, yeah. I'm perfectly fine, stop fussing,"

She rolled her eyes.

"Then change the sail, you're not catching the wind properly,"

He quickly looked up and cursed when he realised she was right.

It was a couple of hours before the words they had been waiting for rang out.

"Land! I can see land! Over there!"

Ally heard Newt's shout from inside the cabin and double checked her maps.

"Ally, you heard that?" Lyra's voice drifted through the radio set.

"Yes, I checked the maps and it is possible," she admitted,

"The Sun is setting now so I can't see exactly how far away it is. It's probably best if we drop anchor and set off for shore in the morning,"

"Your call Captain,"

Ally heard her yell some instructions to Newt and the unmistakeable sound of the anchor being dropped as she looked at their bearings.

A very excited Lyra dropped down into the cabin beside her and looked over her shoulder.

"Where are we?"

"One second, keep your pants on,"

Heavier footfalls stomped down as she cross-referenced her maps.

"I'd say we've just passed over Peterborough and an area of high ground starts approximately 10km west so I'd say that's probably what you can see,"

"We should moore as soon as we see a settlement and have a look,"

"But won't it have been underwater until fairly recently," Newt chipped in,

"Yes, but we shouldn't have to travel that far to find something useful," Lyra countered.

"It's our best shot and we need more supplies. Speaking of which, I'm starving," Ally pushed away from her desk to grab another cold can off the kitchen shelves.

"How many of those cans are left?"

"21, another week's worth,"

It sounded like a lot but with three of them on board it would soon run out.

"Unless we find food tomorrow, we're going to have to start rationing,"

Ally grimaced at the thought. That didn't sound fun.

They sat on the sofas and talked as they did every evening. About everything but their lives before. They were more lively than usual, the sight of land giving them hope. Ally knew it wouldn't last but she was glad of it, even so. Hope never hurt anybody. She felt herself falling asleep as the other two raved on about some stupid kids show they had watched decades ago.

She woke up when Lyra shook her shoulder and found that she had slipped onto her side.

"Come on, you can't sleep here. You'll mark the leather with your dirty shoes,"

She rolled her eyes as she pulled herself upright.

"Do you really still care about the state of the leather seats in your yacht as we try and survive the end of the world?" She grumbled,

"Yes, now sit up or go to bed,"

"Yes Mum," She mocked as they all stood to go to their rooms.

Lyra bristled slightly but hid it by quickly turning away towards the opposite end of the boat.

"Night Ally," Newt mumbled as he opened the door to his room. His fingers grazing hers ever so slightly as she turned to go into the bathroom. She didn't even notice, her thoughts only on sleep.

"Night," She yawned,

It took them most of the morning to make it to the coastline they had spotted but it seemed it was not quite dry land.

"Ally, come up here and see this,"

Ally put down her headset and climbed up onto the deck. She instantly saw the problem.

Even from their position, a few hundred meters from the shore, she could see the land was completely drenched still. The ground was waterlogged and great pools of water crisscrossed out, into the distance.

"It's not looking great," she admitted,

"I know. What should we do?"

Ally hesitated, was Lyra asking for assistance?

"I think, follow the coast until we see a bigger town, there may have been places that weren't as badly affected further north,"

"True, but we could also stop here and hike further in,"

"I don't know about you two but I don't fancy hiking through giant pools of water when we don't know how far we need to go," Newt said as he joined them.

"Follow the coastline then?"

"Yeah," The hesitation was evident on everyone's faces but really, what else could they do?

They carried on throughout the day, hoping to find something slightly better but it was all just as bad. The sight of dry land had suddenly become a curse as they still couldn't get off the boat. They had just turned around a particularly tight corner when Lyra spoke into her radio,

"Ally, I think there's something up ahead,"

"Okay, how far?"

"It's hard to tell. Maybe 20km ahead? There's a long stretch ahead of us,"

"Erm it could be Leicester, or Stamford. No, Stamford is just behind us…"  
"What?"

"I think it's Leicester, it's quite a large city and built on a hill. It might have what we need,"

"Thank the lord,"

"Are we stopping here are carrying on?"

"Let's get to the town and then stop, I'm sick of waiting,"

The Sun had very nearly set by the time Lyra halted the boat. They were as close as they could get without grounding the boat.

"Come and look at these maps I found," she called over as the others descended down again,

"We're actually over part of the city but there's a river not far from where we have stopped that will take us right into the centre,"

"Do you think that is safe, taking our only method a transport right into an exposed area?" Newt asked,

"I'd rather be able to keep an eye on it than leave it out here. One of us should stay behind incase anyone comes to investigate,"

Ally could tell Lyra was torn between staying with her boat and going for supplies.

"Newt? Can I trust you?"

He looked offended but nodded his head.

"Then you can stay behind and watch her,"

"But what can I do if someone comes?"

"We can give you a knife but that's about it. We won't stay out long, just get what we need a run,"

"She's a big boat Lyra, she's hardly subtle. She's going to grab people's attention,"

"There's a ruined abbey on the shore of the River Soar which we can hide her in,"

"The mast?"

"We can't take that down Newt. But we can take down the sail,"

"Look, here's what I know. There is a huge supermarket a quarter of a mile north west from the abbey so if there is going to be anything, it will be there. The ruins are likely still underwater as the river won't have receeded yet but we can't stay here too long or we will get stuck. It's probably best if we use the motor to get in and out of here- Lyra, stop grimacing- and then we can go quickly,"

"Can't we just stay here now that we have landed?" Newt said,

The girls looked at each other.

"You can stay if you want," Lyra said after a moment.

"Why won't you?"

"The ground is ruined around here, if we want to settle somewhere long term, we have to find somewhere better,"

Newt still looked like he couldn't decide what he wanted to do but he shook his head and all conflict was gone from his eyes.

"Fine, I'll look after the boat,"

The girls smirked but they were secretly glad, they couldn't sail this by themselves.

Finally it was the day to step back on land. They immediately set to work lowering the mainsail. Since they were just using the motor Newt had no job so he went down into the cabin.

"What do you want?" Ally sighed,

"And hello to you too,"

She could feel him hovering over her shoulder,

"What do all those buttons do?"

"Honestly, I don't have a clue. I just know the important ones, like which one to press to eject you from hovering over my shoulder,"

She heard him grumble behind her as he walked away and flopped onto one of the sofas.

"Everything okay up there now, Lyra?" She asked into the headset.

"Yep," the tinny voice replied,

"Okay, you are now following the river bed, I'll tell you when we have to change direction,"

She put down her headset and turned to see the boy staring out of the window,

"You want a knife then?" she asked him,

He looked up from the window,

"I thought you were joking,"

"No, deadly serious," She laughed a bit at her pun.

She quickly checked their progress and slipped into her room. She had hidden the extra knives they had grabbed back in Portsmouth in her wardrobe.

"Here," she said, thrusting one at him,

He looked startled at the sudden appearance of the large kitchen knife in his face and quickly snatched it before she could move.

"Thanks,"

He turned back to the window,

"What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking for other survivors, but I haven't seen anyone,"

Ally felt her heart contract.

"There must be, maybe they're hiding,"

A faint smile appeared on his face,

"That's what the world is now, one giant game of hide-and-seek,"

"Allegra!" A distant voice travelled from the navigation desk,

She quickly ran over and swore under her breath,

"Yes, sorry Ly!" She said hurridley as she pulled the headset on,

It was strange leading the boat through the city. Although the water levels had lowered to the point that you could see most of the first floor of the buildings, the river was still wide enough for them to pass through. At first glance, it looked like a normal town. She passed churches and shops and other typical features, but here and there a building had collapsed or a car had made it onto a roof. Strangest of all, there was no sign of life. It was unnerving.

She looked at the map Ally had given her. They had entered through a small river and were supposed to make a turning soon so they could get to the abbey site but she couldn't see an obvious route up ahead.

"Ally?" She asked through the radio.

No answer. What was she doing?

"Ally!"

Over the top of the buildings she could see a tall glass building poking out. It was the only tall building around that had survived, what was it?

A bigger expanse of water opened up in front of her, which way?

"Allegra!" She screeched down the radio.

A fumbling sound along with a string of apologies made it's way through the speakers.

"Where have you been! I need you to navigate me, now!"

"Well what's the problem?"

"There's a huge expanse of water not on the map you gave me just ahead and I don't know where we are going,"

"That's just a park, I don't suppose it drains very well. Just cross over in a straight line and we'll be there faster,"

Hmph.

"Can you come up?"

She felt Ally walk up to her.

"Do you know what these ruins look like?"

"Not really,"

Lyra shot her an unimpressed look,

"But I think they will be obvious," she added, hurridely,

"Could those be it," Lyra asked, pointing at a collection of odd looking rocks,

"Potentially, get closer first,"

As they got closer she could see more of the walls poking out of the water. The remains of pillars were encircled by crumbling walls which couldn't have been helped by the sudden flood. She steered the boat through a large gap and cut the engine right down.

"Look for a good place to moore, preferably as sheltered from eyes as possible,"

They crept further into the walls to an area that still had three of it's walls. It was thankfully big enough for the boat to fit in but it would be hard to get out. "Go drop the anchor and I'll go grab our bags,"

Ally nodded and headed to the front of the boat while Lyra went back inside. What would they need?

"You're heading off straight away then?" Newt's voice drifted over from the windows.

"Yeah, and if we get back and she is damaged in any way then I will personally drown you, understood?"

He stood up and waved a knife at her.

"Don't worry, with this fearsome weapon nothing shall get near her,"

"I'm serious,"

"I know, I'm going to sit on top of one of those walls so I can see anything coming, don't worry,"

She still didn't like leaving her boat. But she also didn't like the idea of staying and letting Newt and Ally get supplies. Knowing them, they'd come back with stupid stuff they didn't need.

She went to Ally's room to grab the other girl's rucksack and met her on the deck.

"All sorted, I've trapped the rope under a bunch of rocks-"

"Well that's not going to work," Lyra cut across her,

"Look, you two just leave. I'll secure her," Newt said, coming up behind Lyra,

"But-"

"It's already gone midday and I don't fancy waiting in the dark,"

"Okay okay,"

"So protocol," Ally began, "We should be back in four hours. If we're not going to be back by sunset then we'll contact you on the radio."

She pointed to the radio Lyra used at the helm.

"Do not leave the boat," Lyra added, "We'll find a way back the next day if we get stuck,"

"Yes yes I've got it. Don't leave the boat, stay. Sit here and be bored, I think I can handle it,"

Lyra hesitated and looked around them,

"Come on Ally, we're climbing up the walls to get out of here,"

The weather beaten rock turned out to be perfect for climbing and they both made it to the top without any worries.

"Okay, so we need to head north west. What's the best way down from here?"

"I think we might need to swim," Lyra replied,

"No, I'm not getting wet,"

"And I'm not joking. The water only runs out at that tree line over there and the walls don't make it that far,"

"But what about our bags?"

"They're empty apart from a little food for today and your knife is in yours as well,"

Ally was silent, searching frantically for an excuse but it was futile.

"Fine, I know I have no choice, I get it,"

They made their way to the end of the walls and looked at the murky water beneath them. With a grim look at Lyra, Ally jumped in.

The water was as warm as the air around them and it latched onto her t-shirt and her jeans like a thousand grabbing hands. The weight pulled heavily on her limbs. Her head slipped below the surface as she trashed around trying to stay afloat. It seemed there was nothing she could do. She was back in the tsunami, she was drowning again. She lost track of which way was up. Panic shot through her limbs. She was going to die. She opened her eyes to try and find the light. The muddy water was no help but there it was. A small break in the darkness. A small patch of light. She pushed up to it, losing the bag from her shoulder to allow herself an easy journey to the surface. There was a stream of bubbles next to her and a hand at her shoulder, and she was yanked from the water. She was pulled into her friend's arms, gasping for air, choking out the water that flowed into her mouth.

"Ally, come on!"

She forced herself to breathe and try to help paddle towards the trees. They reached the ground and Ally had never been so thankful to fall face first into mud.

"What the hell happened!?" Lyra demanded, "you've lost your food, your knife, if you couldn't bloody swim you should have fucking said something,"

"I... I… thought I was drowning again," Ally panted, she felt so guilty, she knew she was compromising their task. She was exhausted and fought the tears that pricked her eyes. She was not weak.

Lyra's face immediately softened,

"It's...fine, you're out now. Breathe,"  
She followed her instructions until she could stand up again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think I'd react like that,"

"Never mind, let's just get going. We're losing time,"

Ally stood and looked behind her. All you could see of their boat was the mast poking up, but it could be easily missed. As could the lone figure sat on top of the walls, looking out, watching her.

It was harder than they thought, moving through the waterlogged streets. Luckily the supermarket Ally had picked out wasn't too far away or they might not have made it back before dark.

"There it is," Ally said as they rounded a corner. The building stretched out in front of them in all directions.

"Bloody hell it's big! Surely a prime place like this would have been the first place for people to head for,"

"You'd have thought but we've not seen anybody around,"

"I know, but something feels off about this place. Let's move quickly and leave,"

They walked to the main doors but the automatic system wasn't working so they walked around to the side to find another way in. A door was leaning open, obviously broken down by someone but they were long gone.

Amazingly, a lot of the stock was still in there. All the perishable foods had gone mouldy and the smell was awful but all the dry foods and tins were still stacked and in order on the shelves. Ally grabbed herself another rucksack and walked behind the butcher's counter for a new knife.

"Ally, that is so not hygienic. Put it back, now,"

"No, I'll clean it later,"

She heard Lyra swear under her breath but she didn't say anything else. Good.

"Put as much as you can fit in that bag. We only need food, not tools or anything,"

"Got it,"

They worked quickly, pulling what they could off the shelves without looking at what they were grabbing. It was the opposite to their first supply trip. No jokes, no laughter and no talking. A distant slamming of a door caught Lyra's ears.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Shhh, I think I heard a door close," Lyra whispered.

"It was probably just the wind,"

"Shh! Is your bag full?"

Ally stuffed the last tin into her bag.

"Yeah,"

"Great, let's go then!"

Lyra grabbed her hand as she walked past and looked around the corner of the aisle before walking out.

"You're being paranoid!" Ally whispered angrily,

The sound of shoes against sticky tile made their way over from the other end of the shop.

"Still think so?" She replied.

Ally's blood ran cold, the last people they had met in supermarkets hadn't been friendly.

They crept towards the door they had entered from, trying to hide their footsteps.

"Who the hell are you?" A deep male voice rang out from behind them. They spun around to see a man around his mid thirties striding towards them, a furious look in his eyes. He reached into his pocket to grab something but Ally didn't see as Lyra pushed her towards the door.

They sprinted towards the exit as they heard him yell instructions into a radio.

Thank god England didn't have guns.

They ran out into the warm air and towards the front of the shop. A small group of men and women were stationed outside who began to run towards them when they spotted the girls.

"Shit," Lyra mumbled under her breath, "we can't lead them back to the boat,"

They changed course and headed along the main road the supermarket was based on.

"What are we going to do?" Ally gasped between breaths,

"I don't know!"

They came to another junction but carried on straight forwards.

"We're in plain sight, we should have turned off!"

Ally looked over her shoulder,

"Crap, they're gaining on us,"

"In here!"

Lyra grabbed Ally's arm as she swerved into an open cricket field. They headed towards the trees at the other side to find some cover but a wire fence blocked their path. Lyra shook the fence in her frustration. The heavy footfalls behind them were catching them up.

"Come on!" Ally yelled, pulling her away from the fence. The field curved round in an oval shape but there looked to be another exit at the far end.

They ran towards it but as they neared the man who had first seen them emerged with another group.

Lyra went for the knife on her belt but it was futile. They were outnumbered.

"Who are you?" Lyra spat at him,

"I'm Janson, now you tell us where the rest of you are and we can go from there, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The rest of your group, tell me where they are,"  
A wild look shone in his eyes, "I know there are more of you, always taking our shit, stealing, changing things,"

"You're crazy! There's no group. It's probably the rest of the people in this goddamn city trying to survive!"

A shark-like smile spread over his face,

"I know it's not because I have them all under my protection. Just as you will be now. You will be part of us, you will be ours. The others will come looking for you, and if they don't? Well we'll see how useful you prove to be,"

"We are _not_ yours,"

Ally stayed quiet, watching, assessing. She looked around at the group and tried to spot any weaknesses, any favour the man showed, and hint of an injury. Lyra kept him talking, knowing that Ally would be quietly gathering information on them.  
Some looked uncomfortable but they didn't make any move to disagree. He must have something they needed, to follow him without questioning. Or maybe he wasn't always a dictating arsehole.

"Come on girls, time to go home," he smirked at them,

"You have a train to London? Great!" Lyra said with sarcastic excitement.

Shit.

"So you're not from around here?" He smiled, a smile that made the contents of Ally's empty stomach turn, "How did you two wind up so far from home?"

Lyra just matched his grin with one of her own.

"We were visiting family before the flares happened, I assume that is acceptable,"

Ally loosed a breath.

"And you like to bring friends I see,"

"Who says we're friends?" Lyra said suggestively, before rolling her eyes, "we're cousins, the only ones who survived the bloody thing,"

Ally had seen Lyra act, but her improvising and quick thinking was still impressive.

"I'll still have you. The WCD wants all the members it can get."

"Sorry, what was that? Wicked?"

He bristled,

"The Wider Community Democracy,"

"It's been two weeks and you've got yourself a fancy name,"

"I like order and I shall have it. Grab them I've lost my patience. I don't want them running off again,"

Suddenly hands wrapped around their arms and they were being walked back towards the supermarket.

Ally still didn't have a plan.

 **See you on Wednesday ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry sorry I forgot to update on Wednesday. Well here it is, more excitement, enjoy!**

 **Oh, btw I'm actually learning how to sail in real life tomorrow morning and Emma is teaching me; I am terrified! ~ Sarah**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

They were led to the tall glass building that Lyra had seen on their way through the town. Even from here they could see people were running everywhere. So this is where they all were.

Janson took them through the main doors and up the flight of stairs running up the center of the building. People were mostly by themselves or in small groups but they looked up at Janson like he was some kind of hero.

"Has anymore land appeared?"

"Is it safe outside yet?"

"Did you see my daughter?"

He met all their questions with a gentle smile and a shake of a head but a quick promise that things would be sorted out soon. His face held a gentleness that he had not showed them in the streets.

They finally made it into a secluded room and Janson shut the door behind him.

"What is this place?" Lyra asked,

"I told you-"

"No I mean this building,"

"It's the National Space Centre," he looked very smug as he said that.

"I'm guessing you were a scientist here," Ally spoke up for the first time,

He looked at her, pride filling his face,

"I still am. I have saved these people, gathering them from the streets and providing shelter and structure,"

"How very heroic," Lyra smirked, he ignored her.

"We have a better chance of surviving if we aren't divided and fighting over food and living space. My team and I are at this moment looking for a way to drain the land so we can build and grow again,"

"But what if we don't want to be part of it,"

His face fell from his euphoric smile to a scowl.

"I will not have it. If there are people out there then they will mess with my plans and supplies. I don't like not being able to predict what will happen, too many variables,"

"You can't force us to stay!"

"But I won't have to force you, you'll see. Here, everyone is equal. We share our supplies equally, everyone has a job, a task to perform-"

"But what if we still wanted to leave?"

Silence. He turned to look Lyra directly in the eye,

"That is impossible. You can't walk because there is too much water on the fields and no one has a boat. There is no escape,"

Ally resisted looking at Lyra.

He started walking towards the door.

"I realise you have had a traumatic time these past few weeks so I am willing to let your behaviour slide. I'm going to lock you in here tonight so you don't get any ideas about leaving and you can keep your bags for the night so you can eat, as a gesture of my goodwill. But I do expect you to hand them in once you leave the room tomorrow as they need to be shared out. I think you should also know that if you try and escape, I will make sure your time with us here a living hell,"

Ally shuddered. It wasn't his words but more his manic grin. Obviously the power of being in charge was getting to him.

They heard the door lock behind him and Ally looked around the room. They were in some sort of educational room, there were a few desks and a white board but nothing fancy that they could break.

Lyra was rummaging in her bag for something. She threw a cereal bar at Ally as she reached around the tins.

"What are you looking for?"

A glare from Ly shut her up as she pointed at the door. Ally could just make out a shadow under the door as someone moved on their feet in front of it. Of course he wouldn't just leave them alone, the paranoid freak.

From the depths of her bag Lyra pulled out the radio she had brought with them. But it was loud, how were they going to cover it up?

Ly beckoned for Ally to come closer and started whispering in her ear,

"I want you to make noise okay. Not something that will make him come in but loud enough to cover the static. I'm going to turn the volume right down but it might not be enough,"

She nodded and thought for a moment.

"Why is it my fault Ly? No, don't tell me to lower my voice I don't care. We didn't need more supplies, you were being overly cautious. Wait, so it's my fault because I was talking too loudly in there! No that is not fair! And now we're stuck here, great," She spared a look towards Lyra who was whispering quickly into the radio, she nodded at her as if to say keep going.

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't turn back time, I'm not a bloody time-lord. Look, we're going to have to work with this now we can't leave. I don't like it but we don't have a choice. Oh come on stop arguing with me, this is pointless,"

Lyra gave her a thumbs up and she lowered her voice.

"Thank god, I was running out a material. What did he say?"

"He's a twat. I told him we've been taken by a bunch of weirdos but not to leave the boat unless I tell him too. I asked if he had any ideas but he kept his mouth shut for once so he's no help. If we're not out by tomorrow then I might contact him to cause a diversion outside,"

"Why not now?"

"Because I'm not leaving the boat unattended. You saw how touchy Janson was about leaving the city. I wouldn't put it past him to sail off and abandon all these people given half the chance,"

"We have to hand in our rucksacks tomorrow morning, they're going to take the radio,"

"Not if I hide it on me,"

"It's not small. Where are you going to put it?"

"I don't know, okay!"

She was silent for a moment.

"Let's just sleep, we can figure things out in the morning,"

"Fine by me," Ally said, stretching out on the itchy carpet. This wasn't how she had imagined her first night on land.

Newt was bored. He had sat on the walls for a couple of hours, he'd made some food, heck he'd even tidied his room. He hadn't seen anyone since the girls had dragged themselves out of the water and vanished into the tree line. Something had looked off, like Lyra had been dragging Ally to land, but they had both been walking fine afterwards.

It was getting dark and they still weren't back but there had been nothing through the radio.

"They're fine, they'd tell you if they weren't," he said to himself,

A faint shout drifted over the warm air. The first human sound he had heard all day. He climbed up onto the walls but there was nothing to see.

More shouting came but it was too faint to tell if it was the girls or another group.

He looked over the ruins again and saw nothing but as he turned to climb back down, movement in the tree line caught his eye. A figure stood there in the shadows. Relief flooded through him, they were back.

But the figure didn't move, just stood there and watched him. He crept forwards along the wall as a shorter figure came to stand by the first. Now he was closer he could see they were broader than the girls and with far shorter hair. Not exactly girls then. He grabbed the knife from his belt as the taller figure stepped out of the shadows.

Newt spared a glance over his shoulder at the boat and made his way to the end of the wall. Who were they?

In the dimming light he could make out spiky black hair and upturned eyes that turned to meet him as he stared.

"Minho?" Newt called out in disbelief,

The other boy's eyes widened,

"Bloody hell Newt! What are you doing here you shank?"

Smiles spread across their faces,

"What are the chances… get up here, I'm not jumping in that water," Newt shouted over,

"Keep your bloody voice down! How did you get here?"

"With a boat,"

Excitement rose in Minho's face,

"No way, I'm finding a way up,"

He disappeared into the trees again where the other boy still stood.

He sat there for a few minutes until Minho dropped out of a tree overhanging the water and just about made it onto the wall.

"Had to go for a dramatic entrance, didn't you," Newt joked as he stood up,

"Watch out for Thomas," Minho said as he quickly stepped around Newt to grab Thomas' shirt before he fell off the wall and into the water below.

Thomas was shorter than Minho and looked a year or so younger, making him probably around the girl's' age.

"Hey," he offered with a small wave,

"Where's this boat then?" Minho said, walking along the walls and back to where Calypso was hidden.

"How do you know Minho?" Thomas asked him as they walked behind,

"We grew up together but his parents got a job somewhere else and he moved when we were in sixth form. I never found out exactly where though,"

"This is your boat!" Minho called over, looking far too excited, "she's beautiful, how do you even sail this thing by yourself? Hey Thomas, this is our ticket out of here!"

Shit, what had he done.

"She's not mine exactly,"

Minho turned to look at him confused,

"The rest of the crew are out getting supplies but they're not back yet,"

"Where did they go?" His face suddenly went serious,

"I don't know, Ally said something about a big supermarket north-west from here,"

"That's not good," Thomas' voice came from behind him,

Newt froze,

"What do you mean?"

"There's some crazy group based around there that have been collecting the survivors and taking control of all the food supplies left around there,"

"That doesn't sound crazy at all, it sounds like a good idea,"

"The problem is you don't have a choice. If your crew is found by them, they'll be taken back to their site,"

"Well I haven't heard anything from them so I'm assuming they're fine,"

Thomas and Minho exchanged a look,

"If you say so,"

"Could we join your crew?" Thomas asked suddenly,

"What?"

"You heard him. You know I can sail and the more crew you have, the easier it is,"

"I can't make that decision,"

Minho rolled his eyes,

"Sure you can't, you just don't want to share the boat,"

"No, as in, it was hard enough convincing the girls to let me stay when they found me camping out on here,"

"So when you say crew, you really mean a bossy bunch of girls,"

"What? No… well I suppose, yes. But I'm telling the truth,"

"Fine, I'll wait until they get back. When are they getting back?"

"They should already be here,"

There was an awkward pause,

"I'm sure they're fine," Thomas said,

"Yeah," Minho added slowly,

"Look, come down onto the boat. It's uncomfortable up here,"

They climbed down and sat on the deck. It was quite cool in the shadows of the walls.

"Why were you in trees?" Newt asked once they were settled,

"I saw you earlier," Thomas replied, "We haven't seen anyone else around recently so I went to get Minho to investigate,"

"How come you two haven't been taken by this group then?"

He didn't miss the look the passed inbetween them,

"We saw the way they rounded everyone up but we never saw anyone leave their building. We didn't want to get pulled into something we couldn't get out of when we wanted," Minho offered,

"So where are you?"

"In a hardware store just a few roads west of here. We steal food from the group every few days but no one has come after us," He looked a bit smug,

Newt rolled his eyes,

"Some things never change, always sneaking around doing your own thing,"

Minho opened his mouth to retort when the radio crackled into life at the helm. Newt moved quickly towards it,

"Lyra?"

"Yeah, it's me. Just keep your voice down and listen,"

Sounds of an argument drifted from Lyra's end of the line,

"This bunch of weirdos has taken us but we're going to find a way out, okay,"

"Wait, how? When?"

"Shhh, listen,"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Stay in the boat,"

"Lyra…"

"I'm serious. Do you have any escape ideas?"

He looked to the two boys who were watching him,

"Not really, no,"

"Fat lot of help you are, I'll contact you if we're stuck,"

"Wait-"

She cut the line and there was silence.

"I'm guessing they're not coming back," Minho said,

"Not tonight,"

Minho laughed,

"No, I meant they're not coming back full stop,"

"Is it that unlikely they can escape by themselves?" Newt asked him,

"Yes, he's got that place surrounded" Thomas answered,

"Then we're going to go get them,"

"We are? I was going to suggest taking the boat and leaving," Minho countered,

"Is Thomas any good at sailing?"

"Thomas has no idea about sailing," the boy in question replied,

"There we go then, we can't leave without them. If you want to get on this boat then you're helping me,"

The boys looked at him in disbelief. Minho sighed.

"Fine, I'll help. If it lets me stick to fingers up at those controlling bastards then I'm up for it,"

"We need a plan then," Newt said with a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry about the delay. Guess what? I survived sailing! ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

Minho and Thomas had gone back to their camp late that night. Newt had told them they could stay on the boat but they refused. They reappeared at sunrise the next morning and set off straight away to get into position. As they climbed up onto the wall Newt looked down at the boat guiltily. He had one job…

They quickly made their way through the water and into the treeline as Minho and Thomas led him to the National Space Centre. The two of them were fast, it had been a while since Newt had run and he felt his muscles groaning in surprise at the movement.

He had given descriptions of the girls to the others last night but that had been the most he could do. Minho and Thomas were well aware of the group's movements as they had been dodging them for weeks now. It wouldn't be too hard to sneak inside around the guards and pretend to be another face in the crowds. He was there to make sure they got the right people.

A giant glass building rose up in front of them as they looked around the final corner. As they watched, a group walked out of the main doors and headed down the street- to get supplies, Minho had said. The next set of guards hadn't made it to the doors yet.

Minho ran forwards with Newt into the building and the doors closed behind them. Newt patted the radio attached onto his belt, the spare one was with Thomas who was still outside.

People were everywhere but didn't give them a second look. They were just as bedraggled and tired as the rest of them. They walked around the floor, looking for the girls but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Newt," Thomas' voice hissed from his belt,

"What?" There was enough general noise that no one looked up,

"Someone's coming back and they look pissed,"

He quickly relayed the information to Minho as a figure burst through the main doors and stormed up the stairs in the centre. The people looked up and tried to talk to him as he passed but he ignored them. He was someone in charge then.

They let him disappear for a few seconds before following him. They came to a landing and were about to carry on upwards when they heard raised voices coming from a few doors down,

"-more supplies have been taken! Stop lying,"

"We don't know what you're talking about!" It was Lyra,

"Where. Are. They."

"We don't know who _they_ are. If you were a scientist, as you say you are, you would know the difference between fact and theory. As it stands, your theory is incorrect but you are too proud to accept it-" Ally's voice was cut short by a loud slap.

Newt tensed. It was definitely them.

Minho pulled him into an empty room opposite the one where are all the noise was coming from and they stood in the shadows, listening. They heard footsteps storm out of the room and a lock clicking into place before the footsteps receded to the stairs.

"AVA!" the man shouted down the stairwell,

A hurried pair of footsteps joined him.

"They still won't tell me the truth. I want you to keep them locked in there until they start talking,"

"Janson, couldn't it be they are telling all they know,"

"No, I am sick of being messed around. I want these people found,"

"You're taking this too far-"

"I haven't taken this far enough. Do as I say Ava,"

His angry footsteps drifted away as he went down the stairs. Quieter footsteps walked down the corridor and stopped at the door opposite them. Newt peered around the door frame. A middle-aged woman was faced away from them, her blonde hair tied up neatly in a bun and she wore a dirty lab coat. She made sure the door was locked and then carried on past them until, she too, disappeared further into the building. It was clear.

Slowly, they stepped through the door and looked at the lock. It was one that didn't require a key, just a tumbler that was easily turned from the outside. Newt quickly turned it and opened the door and was met by two ugly looking knives in his face.

"Wait, it's me-"

"Newt!" Ally exclaimed quietly, pulling him into a crushing hug, "you came-"

She was cut short as Lyra grabbed him and pushed him into the wall,

"You left the boat, you prick!" Lyra growled between clenched teeth, "the one thing I told you not to do. Are you thick, do you not understand simple orders?"

"Whoa whoa let's all calm down. First impressions are important, remember?" Minho called from behind him.

"Who the hell is this? You went and found yourself a nice friend instead of guarding _my_ boat!"

"Nah I found him, are we leaving?" Minho cut in,

Lyra gave Newt one last glare before walking out of the room. They had seen their bags put in the opposite room, ready to be sorted when they had had to hand them over that morning. They had hidden their knives and radio in one of the covered trays that lined the room.

Ally handed Lyra her bag as she joined her in the corridor and they turned to go to the stairs but Minho stopped them.

"Janson is down there and they're going to notice if we walk out the front doors,"

"Thomas, you still there?" Newt asked into the radio,

"Who the heck is Thomas?"

Newt silenced Lyra with a wave of his hand,

"Yeah still here. You found them yet?"

"Yep, both here. Any sign of that group returning?"

"Not quite yet, but there is another smaller entrance on the opposite side with only one guard. If you can find it, it might work,"

"Could you create a diversion if we needed one?"

There was a pause at the end of the line.

"Yes,"

Newt looked up at Minho,

"Any idea about this other entrance then?"

The broader boy shrugged.

They turned to the other end of the corridor, there _was_ a door at the other end.

"Once, we get out of here you are explaining everything," Lyra seethed as she passed him,

He raised one eyebrow at Ally who just rolled her eyes,

"Give her a few days and she'll remember to thank you," she said with a weary smile as she followed the other girl.

Newt followed behind with Minho.

"So these are the great sailors who we can't go anywhere without,"

"You'll see," he replied.

They opened the door at the other end of the corridor to see a small set of unlit stairs, they were lucky. Newt turned to see the same woman watching him from the end of the corridor. He froze, unsure what to do, but she didn't move to stop them. She raised her hand towards him.

 _Go_ she seemed to be saying.

He didn't argue.

They raced down the steps as fast as they could in the dark and burst out of the fire escape door at the bottom. The guard shouted in alarm as they raced past but a quick punch in the face from Minho shut him up quickly. Newt barked some orders at Thomas to get back to the boat as they ran through the car park and back onto the road. He chanced a glance behind him but the guards were too far behind them to matter.

They crashed through the trees surrounding the abbey, their tail far behind them. Minho could just make out Thomas running over the walls as they approached the water.

"How do we get back up?" Ally asked, looking at Lyra slightly fearfully,

"We climb," the new boy said, pointing to a particularly large tree that overhung the water,

Ally looked up at the smooth bark of the tree and then the straps of the bulky bag she carried on her back. There was no way she could get it up there.

"I'll go up and then you can pass your bags up?" Newt offered, Ally threw him a grateful smile,

It was a bit of a squeeze but they managed to fit all four of them into the branches, plus the bags.

"Okay, so earlier I did it like this," the boy said before running lightly down a branch that Ally was sure was going to snap at any moment and jumping the rest of the way onto the walls. How the hell was she supposed to do that?

"See, easy!" He called over. Idiot.

Lyra went next before anyone could speak and leapt gracefully onto the bricks. That was typical, she was never one to be out done. Newt chucked over their bags as Ally planned her jump. She wasn't the best at balancing and she didn't want to end up in the water any time soon.

Before she could convince herself otherwise she ran along the thin branch. It curved under her weight and just as she was sure it was going to break she threw herself into the air. She landed on all fours and felt her palms rip open with the friction but she had made it. Lyra pulled her up and she watched as Newt jumped over. How come everyone else was good at this?

Lyra led the way to the boat where another boy was waiting for them. Ally could feel her friend's anger rising with every step the further they got from danger.

"Explain," Was all she said once they were all back on deck,

"Lyra, Ally, this is Minho and Thomas. They saw me from the walls and came to investigate but seeing I wasn't a threat, introduced themselves. Minho's an old friend of mine but I didn't know he lived in the town, it's a strange coincidence. They told me about that gang and said they could help get you out,"

"I told you to stay with the boat when I told you what had happened,"

"There was no way you were getting out, sunshine," Minho cut in,

"Sorry, I didn't ask for your opinion," Lyra snapped at him, "we've just met, you don't know what I can, or cannot, get out of,"

"Not that place, I can assure you. Janson is a paranoid freak and has guards positioned at all exits. No one leaves the building, you needed help,"

"This boat is our only ticket out of here, if someone had taken it while we were gone-"

"But they didn't!" Newt said with a cheeky smile,

"But they could have done and that is what counts. I trusted you enough to stay and protect her and you couldn't even do that,"

Hurt flashed in his eyes but he didn't retaliate.

"Why would you help?" she rounded on Minho,

"In exchange for our services, we want to join your crew," Minho began,

"No."

"Why not?"

"No, no more people, no more strangers,"

"We just risked our lives for you!"

"No!"

"But I can sail! I taught Newt when we were younger,"

She was silent,

"I just want to get out of this town, I don't want to be taken in by Janson," he continued.

"What can you sail?"

"I've sailed on boats as big as this one, I'm familiar with the model and I've fixed them too,"

Ally studied him. He was no taller than Newt but his arms were obviously the most powerful part of his body. If it was from hauling sails or working out at the gym, she couldn't tell. He certainly had the potential to be useful.

"What about you?" Lyra looked at Thomas,

"I… don't know how to sail, but I'm good at tying knots," he added as he saw her scowl.

"So we have one very experienced sailor and one boy-scout, great," she mumbled under her breath.

Lyra turned to Ally and looked at her.

 _What should we do?_ She seemed to say. Ally offered her a worried smile but nodded her head. They had risked their lives for them and had useful skills. She also didn't think they had the physical power to send them away.

"Okay, you can stay but there _are_ rules," Lyra said, pulling herself to her full height, "I am in charge, it is my boat and what I say goes. I make the final decisions about where we go and for how long we travel and failure to listen will result in being dropped off at the nearest bit of land with no rations. We've got this far without you, don't think you are indispensible,"

Minho looked amused but had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

"There's one more thing," Thomas said, "I have a younger brother, Chuck. He's only ten and has no skills for a boat but I can't leave him,"

"He could stay with me so he's not on deck," Ally cut in before Lyra exploded, she wasn't letting an innocent boy be left behind,

"Fine. Go fetch him now and any supplies you have stored, and then some. We had plenty but there are a lot more of us now. Minho, stay with us,"

Lyra grabbed one of the bags and hauled it down the hatch, the others following behind as Thomas scampered back up to fetch his brother. It was comforting to see the kitchen once more filled with food but Ally knew it would quickly vanish. Behind her, Minho was snooping around the cabin, fangirling over the navigation system and the sleek design of the interior. At least Lyra had a sailing friend now to talk nonsense too.

"Minho, you can share with Newt and Thomas and Chuck can go in the room behind the navigation system,"

"Fine by me," he mumurmed as he examined the salt-water converter.

Newt rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Still as much of a sailing nerd as you were when you lived by the sea,"

"Being in the middle of the land did little to stop me. I never wanted to leave you know?" A smile was over his face but sadness lurked there too.

"I know," Newt said quietly. Ally left them to it as she wandered over to Lyra.

"Did we make the right decision?" Ly asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder,

"I honestly can't tell,"

"I hate this, not being able to see the safest option,"

"I hate it too. But as long as we keep looking out for each other and have each other's backs, I don't care who is on our ship,"

"I'm still angry at him you know,"

"Who? Newt?"

"Yeah, he left her. He promised he wouldn't,"

"Lyra, it's okay,"  
"No, she's the last part of my Dad that I have left, I have to keep her safe,"

"From now on, one of us always stays, alright?"

Lyra nodded quickly.

"Thomas will be back soon and then we can get going. I want to get out of this city as soon as possible,"  
"Oh agreed," Newt piped up, "if I have to look at these crumbling walls one more time I am going to explode,"

"Alright drama queen, we know it was difficult just sitting on the boat and _not moving_ ," Lyra hissed but with a little less venom than earlier,

Ally internally sighed, it was going to take a while for her not to use it against him.

Thomas arrived a little later with what could be only described as the human version of a puppy. Chuck had the energy of a five year old as he landed on the deck and proceeded to run around, pointing at everything.

"Chuck, calm down!" They heard Thomas call from the deck,

The boy bounded down the steps,

"Chuck you made it! You ready for an adventure?" Minho asked him, ruffling his hair,

"Yeah it's going to be so cool! Tommy said we're going to be sailing out at sea, like pirates,"

Ally felt a broad smile spreading on her face. He was just pure joy. Lyra shot her a glance, noticing the smile and walked over to him.

"Chuck, this is Newt, Ally, and the scary looking one is Lyra," Minho introduced as Lyra scowled.

"Hiya Chuck, you're going to be hanging down here with me on the navigation desk," Ally said,

"Aw, so I don't get to help with the sails,"

"Not just yet, we have enough people," Ally hoped he didn't see Lyra's horrified look,

"I've got all our supplies," Thomas said as he staggered down the ladder with a giant bag.

"Perfect, put them in the kitchen and we can sort them out once it gets dark, I want to leave the town before sunset," Lyra instructed, "So positions. Newt, I want you on main sail again as I don't want you changing now you've got the hang of it. Minho, I'm putting you on the jib and Thomas I want you to stand near me so I can send you off to do small tasks, okay?"

They all nodded.

"Good. So for getting out of here. I'm going to put the motor in reverse and manoeuvre out of this area backwards. I'll use it to get out of the city, so, no sails today. Newt and Thomas, I want you to stand on either side of the boat to push away from the walls if we get too close,"

They nodded again.

"Let's get going,"


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hello everyone and thanks to those that reviewed! Your support is always appreciated :) Enjoy this chapter! ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

Soon the anchor was up and Lyra started the motor. The boat slowly started to move out of the walls, the small gap that had been easy to come through proving to be nearly impossible to escape. Newt watched as the ancient walls crept closer, the dangerously sharp edges carved by centuries of wind and rain becoming clearer with every inch they drifted towards them, threatening to drag the hull apart if they got close enough. He leant over the railing and tried to use his arms to push away but it was no use, the boat was too heavy.

"We're a bit close on this side," he called out,

"Push us away then," Lyra said back,

"I'm trying," he mumbled.

They crept closer still, a gentle scraping sound coming from lower down the boat. Newt cringed at the sound and climbed over the railing. He leant against it and braced his legs on the wall, pushing against the solid brick until the boat began to slowly move away. The sound stopped.

He stood and moved to climb back over, but as he turned his feet slipped on the smooth plastic and he fell down, his hands gripping the metal railing. As he was trying to pull himself over the boat moved, towards the wall again.

"Shit!" He yelled causing Minho to look over,

"What the hell you doing, you shank?"

Newt couldn't answer though as his lower leg was caught between the boat and the wall and dragged along. The pain was so intense that he suddenly didn't feel anything at all, his grip loosening on the railing as his mind zoned out of the situation and to somewhere else entirely. They cleared the wall and he nearly fell into the water from the sudden lack of pressure. A pair of hands gripped his shoulder and pulled him the rest of the way over.

He didn't know where he was. He couldn't feel anything but panic and confusion but he could see there was blood. It was everywhere, on his hands, on the deck below him. Why was it on his hands? He looked down, the material of his trousers was destroyed, he'd have to find something else to wear. Someone was shouting, somebody else was screaming. Why didn't they stop? Someone had told him to do something. Stay on the boat?

A sharp slap brought everything back into focus.

"I said, we have to get you into the cabin," Minho was in his face but he sounded distant.

He shouted Thomas over.

"He's in shock… don't think… hear me… help move him,"

The words drifted down to him but he didn't take them in. He felt arms under each of his shoulders as he was forced to stand up but when he tried to take a step a powerful wave of nausea swept over him.

"I know it hurts but you have to walk forwards," Minho was telling him pointless words again.

He was half dragged to the hatch and down into the cabin where Ally directed them to her room.

"Put him on my bed, there's space to move around in there. There's a first aid kit in the bathroom and extra bandages under the kitchen sink," She instructed. She had heard what had happened through Lyra's updates but she hadn't expected all the blood. He was deathly pale and his eyes were wide and unfocused.

They were nearly out of the town by now and would soon be back on open water. She told Lyra to stop where she liked and headed to the front to see how Newt was doing.

The boys had found the first aid kit and were trying to clean his leg but they weren't doing a very good job.

Ally immediately left to grab a towel and a bowl of warm water and shooed the boys away from beside him.

"Pouring water onto his leg from a bottle is not going to work!" she said as she placed the towel under his leg and used a cloth to wipe the dried blood away.

"You've got blood on my sheets," she said disapprovingly,

"Sorry princess," Minho snapped back

"Have you given him any painkillers?"

"There's nothing that strong in there to be worth it,"

"Go ask Lyra where she keeps the strong stuff," Thomas hurried out of them room.

"Can you pass me a bandage?" She asked Minho without looking up,

He silently handed her one and she quickly bound his leg up.

"Do you think we should let him fall asleep?" he asked her,

"He's not got concussion so I think it is fine," she wasn't too sure.

"Just wanna sleep…." Newt mumbled under his breath.

"Got them!" Thomas said breathlessly as he ran back into the room,

"I know you want to sleep but you've got to take these first," Minho said, taking the box from Thomas and the remains of the water bottle.

The unmistakeable sound of the anchor being dropped vibrated through the cabin and Ally went into the main room to meet her, leaving Newt in their care.

"How is he?" she asked as she closed the hatch behind her,

"Sleeping but could be a lot worse. It's just a bad graze, thankfully not broken,"

"Good. The idiot slipped and got his leg stuck between the boat and the wall,"

Ally winced.

"Where is he now?"

"I put him in my room because there is more space. Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"I suppose so," Lyra said, rolling her eyes, "Funny how he ended up in your bed though,"

Ally spluttered, trying to find something reasonable to say.

She had nothing.

Ally woke up early the next morning, unable to sleep. Lyra lay soundly next to her and she couldn't remember the last time the girl had looked awake, so she snuck out and went to check on Newt. She grabbed some fresh bandages and food from the kitchen and wandered back to her room. She opened the door and was surprised to find him awake as well.

"How's your leg?" she asked quietly,

He moved to sit up and winced as his leg bent.

"Hurts like a bitch,"

She smiled. At least he was awake and talking as usual.

"I need to put fresh bandages on, we really don't want an infection,"  
"Look at you, nurse Ally,"

She rolled her eyes.

Minho had cut away the fabric on his ruined trousers last night so it was easy to undo the old bandages. It looked slightly better, but not by much.

"Can I see?"

She raised an eyebrow at him but moved out of his way.

"Bloody hell," he muttered,

"I can't give you any more painkillers until you've eaten," She threw a cereal bar at him as she put her cloth into the bowl of water and began cleaning up. He hissed but didn't say a word. Ally tried to hide her smile.

"You enjoy this don't you, seeing me in pain- shit!" he yelped as she began dabbing antiseptic onto it.

"Does that hurt?" she asked sweetly,

He sulked and crossed his arms as she continued.

"There," she said, tucking in the end of the bandage and grabbing the old one off the floor, "I'll be back with the painkillers in just a second,"  
After stuffing the old bandage in the washing machine and cleaning her hands she headed back in. He had managed to get himself sitting upright and was gritting his teeth as she handed him the drugs. Idiot, he needed to stay still.

She sat on the end of the bed and ate her cereal bar as he gulped down the water.

"Thanks," he said after a brief silence, not quite meeting her eyes,

She nodded.

"What did you do to your hands?" he asked,

She looked down at the plasters she had stuck on there sometime last night, surprised to see they were still there,

"They're from jumping out of that bloody tree,"

He laughed,

"But of course you had to out do me,"

"Ah yes, that was certainly my thought as I fell down. 'I must get more injured than Ally or it won't be worth it',"

It was her turn to laugh.

"I don't remember a lot about last night but I do remember you ordering the boys around a lot,"

"Well someone had to, they had no idea what they were doing!"

"And you did?" he asked, a mischievous grin on his face,

"More than they did,"

He snorted,  
"I did a first aid course at school I'll have you know!"

"I doubt amputating legs was part of the curriculum,"

"Stop being so dramatic you're not going to lose your leg,"

"He almost lost my boat though," said Lyra from where she was lurking in the doorway,

"Lyra!" Newt called but she had already left to sort out the kitchen. Typically, no one had emptied Thomas' bag, despite what she had said last night.

"God, she reminds me of my brother," he said, shaking his head before realising what he had said and going deathly still,

"Your brother?" Ally asked tentatively,

"Yeah," he said heavily,

"Where is he now?"

"Dead Ally, he's dead. They all are,"

Ally's eyes drifted to his shaking hands,

"I'm so sorry," her mind drifted back to the night he had left her on deck after telling him about Rhea. She cringed, of course he would have lost people, of course he would be hurting just as badly.

"So am I. After all, it is my fault in a way," his voice was so quiet,

"No it wasn't," an automatic response,

"All-seeing Ally, how could I forget you know everything," he mumbled,

"Sorry," she said again, shrinking into herself,

He stared off away from her, like he was having a conversation in his head. After a while he sighed and looked at her again.

"I had two brothers, Alby and George. We lived in a council house in a dead end part of town with our Mum, even though both my brothers were both old enough to have places of their own. It was in an area called the Glade, hidden within a maze of little streets. It wasn't much but it didn't matter.

"My Mum was the first one I failed. She worked in a warehouse in the shipyard and as soon as I heard what was going on I raced to find her but I didn't get to her in time. I was too slow and by the time I reached her building it had already been raided and, and she was dead. I could see her lying there behind the group of men who had broken in but I knew I couldn't fight my way in to reach her. So I ran."

He started to pick at the bandage but Ally slapped his hand away,

"Sorry," she gave him a reassuring smile, but he broke her gaze, "My brothers were at home and I tried to tell them about the solar flares, what it meant was going to happen. They didn't believe me when I told them what had happened to our Mum, they wanted to see for themselves. I told them there was no time, we had to get on water, and they laughed.

"We went to the shipyard and I showed them the warehouse and they wanted to get her, saying she might still be alive. I told them there was a gang inside but they said it would be okay. I believed them, I wanted to hope," he stopped talking for a second, shaking his head at himself. Ally sat as still as possible, waiting,

"But it didn't work. They saw us and ran for us. Alby and George fought them and told me to run but I couldn't leave them there. I tried to help but when I saw Alby go down I panicked. I ran and I ran until I found your ship and hid. Hoping that if I returned later they would be there. Now it's all gone. Where there was land there is just sea, I have no home to go back to."

"I'm so sorry,"

"So you see, it is my fault Ally,"

She crawled up beside him and gently took his hand, kneeling by his side,

"No, it's not,"

He refused to meet her eyes,

"Look at me Newt. There was nothing you could have done, you couldn't have stopped those men from killing your Mum. You couldn't have stopped your brothers from wanting to help her either,"

He finally looked her in the eyes and she saw the pain he had hidden from them for the past two weeks,

"It's not your fault,"

A single tear fell from his eye and without thinking she brushed it away. They stayed like that, almost frozen in time until a call from Lyra to come into the main room broke the silence. Ally stood, slowly dragging her fingers out of Newt's.

"Thank you," he said quietly as she walked to the door. He looked broken as he sat there, staring blankly at her. She smiled sadly in response, words unable to form on her lips as she forced herself to leave the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Very sorry for the wait! I have no idea where the time went... Well, we have finally finished school, how crazy is that?! Just a bit of fun and getting to know the knew crew ;) ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

Ally walked into the main area where everyone else had gathered in her absence.

"Finally, she pulls herself away from him," Lyra said sarcastically. Ally didn't have the energy to come up with a witty comeback.

"So, as I was saying, Minho is on main sail today. How long until you think Newt can sail again Ally?"

"Probably a couple of days although it won't do him any good to stay down here for all that time,"

"That's fine by me, so long as he can keep himself put. He's not very good at that though,"

"Where are we heading?" Minho asked, already bored,

"What was it I said about following instructions?" Lyra snapped back,

"No seriously, where are we going?"

Lyra looked at Ally who shrugged,

"North," was all she gave him,

Minho was muttering under his breath but Ally didn't have time for his bitching.

"Can you two get Newt out of my room? There's no point him being in there now," she said, looking at Minho and Thomas,

"Sure there isn't," she heard Lyra whisper to herself,

"Whatever you say, milady," Minho said with a low bow as he sauntered off back to her room, Thomas in tow,

"Come on Chuck, I'm afraid it's not very exciting down here but I'm sure I can find things for you to do," Ally said, walking over to the navigation desk as Lyra headed to the deck. The boy's eyes lit up as she turned it on, the wall of lights flickering into action.

"This is so cool! It's like a spaceship,"

Ally couldn't help her laugh,

"What?" he asked,

"Nothing," she said with a smile, "I can just tell you're going to make my job ten times for fun,"

"Yeah!" he said, giving her a high five.

"Space commander Chuck, reporting for duty," he spoke into the radio,

"What?" Lyra's voice snapped back down line,

"It looks like we're going to be passing through a meteorite cloud today, permission to deploy force fields,"

Ally quickly took the radio off him before he made Lyra lose her temper. They hadn't even set off,

"Ally," Lyra said slowly, "I swear to god…"

"He's only having fun Lyra,"

"I know," she said wearily, "and it's frustrating because we all should be able to be like that,"

There was nothing to say, because she was right. And it was horrible.

A loud thump and a string of curse words drifted from her room, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked over her shoulder to see the boys help Newt into the main room. She expected him to look as fragile as when she'd left him five minutes ago but he was completely different. He was laughing at a joke she had not heard, his smile reaching his eyes as he limped into the room. She caught his eye as he sat down and he immediately looked in the opposite direction. Well then.

"You not going upstairs then?" she asked as the others went up onto deck,

"Nah, don't fancy it," he still wouldn't meet her eyes.

She shrugged, turning back around to check the levels.

"Ready to go Lyra?"

"All good,"

Once they had set off there wasn't a lot to do. She could feel Newt staring at her back wanting to talk, but she wouldn't turn around. Not while Chuck was in the room.

"Chuck,"

"Yeah," he came scampering over from where he had been staring out of the window,

"Newt managed to get blood all over my bed sheets, could you take the covers off my bed and put them into the washing machine?"

"Aw, that's not very fun," he said, pouting slightly,

"Sorry," she wasn't very sorry at all.

He walked slowly out of the room and the door shut behind him, the click resonating around the silent cabin.

"Ally," Newt's voice crept over her shoulder,

"Yeah?," she finally turned around,

He was back to the quiet, not-quite-there Newt she had somehow unlocked this morning.

"I- I don't know what to do,"

That single admission had her insides crumbling, this boy was so different to the one who had turned up on their boat a few weeks ago.

"You could start by not pretending to everyone else that you're fine,"

"No, if you don't pretend then everyone gives you sympathy and I don't think I could deal with that,"

"Is people showing they care really that bad?"

"Yes. Everyone else seems to be dealing with this fine, I seem to be the only one falling apart,"

"We all deal with things differently,"

He let out a low laugh,

"You know what gets me the most? The fact that I'm the only one that remembers my family. I don't even have a picture of them. Even now their faces are going blurry in my mind and there is nothing I can do. Don't you have family who you miss too?"

The moment was broken by Chuck walking back in, his face hardly visible for the mountain of fabric he held.

"Oh, thanks Chuck," Ally said, pulling her face into a cheerful smile as he put them into the machine, "Could you take some food upstairs for the others to eat? Tell, Lyra I'll be up in just a second,"

"But I've just- fine," he said, noting her stern expression and gathering some dry food from the cupboard before disappearing again.

"I don't really have family in the literal sense. My real family has been Lyra and Rhea for as long as I can remember. My Mum was one of my Dad's mistresses and all I know is she died during childbirth and that I got my love of music from her. My Dad didn't want anything to do with me really so bundled me off to boarding school aged seven. I've met him around four times in the past eleven years so I wouldn't say I have any feelings for him whatsoever,"

"That's messed up," Newt mumbled,

"It used to upset me but it doesn't anymore. I didn't have a family so I made my own and I wouldn't have it any other way,"

She flashed him a fierce grin and she saw a bit of light return to his eyes. That was good enough for her.

"Think you can make sure Chuck doesn't destroy the place while I helm for a bit, Pegleg?" she asked as Lyra start shouting her name down the hatch,

"Well I don't know what you expect me to be able to do but I can always encourage him," he said, a smile inching onto his lips,

"That will have to be good enough," she replied, climbing into the light.

The first day with the new crew passed without incident. The sky was still as blue as the day the flares had scorched the Earth but clouds were beginning to form in the sky. A storm was coming and Lyra knew it was going to be big.

They all sat in the main room, Newt hadn't moved since that morning but still looked cheerful. Ally was laid out on the floor, stretching her back and Thomas was staring into space looking absolutely exhausted (even though he hadn't really done that much). With a small smile, Lyra walked to her cabin and brought out the bottle she had been hiding since Leicester.

"Look what I swiped from Janson," she said proudly, holding up a large bottle of vodka,

"Lyra, what the actual hell? You said only necessities!" Ally complained although her eyes were shining.

"I would class that as a necessity," Minho said, nodding in approval as Lyra poured them into shot glasses and passed them around, the boat really did have everything,

"Not for you Chuck," Thomas said from the corner. So he _was_ paying attention after all.

Lyra rolled her eyes but didn't give him one. They really didn't need a drunk ten year old on her boat.

"This is so good," Ally said with a blissful smile on her face as she propped herself up on the floor.

Lyra didn't miss the way Newt looked at Ally when she wasn't looking.

 _Not on my bloody boat._

"How's the leg Newt?" she asked sweetly,

He shrugged, a cautious look in his eyes, "It was a lot worse this morning,"

"Shame you had to stay down here all day, but I only suppose it is like my expectations of you," she said with a smirk,

He flipped his finger at her and downed his shot.

"So how did you two know each other?" Ally asked Thomas and Minho, refilling her glass,

They laughed,

"We met at the gym,"

Newt raised an eyebrow,

"No, seriously. Thomas here was training but he had no idea what he was doing with any of the machines so I just had to help him. It was painful to watch,"

"Training for what?" Lyra asked,

"Running," Thomas replied, "I used to run cross-country, fat lot of use that will do me now,"

"And what were you doing?" Newt asked Minho,

"Just keeping the guns in prime condition," he said with a sly smile, bringing his arms up in line with his shoulders.

Lyra rolled her eyes. Men.

They sat in comfortable silence and the more they relaxed, the more Lyra thought that their situation could be a lot worse.

A sudden thought popped into her head.

"Hey Ally, where's Henry?" she asked, genuinely curious,

Immediately Ally was sat upright. She looked at her, eyes wide, "You know, I have no idea. My poor baby,"

"Who's Henry?" Newt asked, confused,

"He made it onto the boat, I remember that,"

"Is there another person on this boat that I don't know about?"

Newt looked scared now,

"It's her violin," Lyra informed him as Ally got up and started searching the storage units in the kitchen.

"Oh, right, obviously,"

"Anyone else confused?" Minho joined in,

"He's not here," Ally muttered as she stormed through the cabin towards her room,

"Of all the things she could have brought, she brought her violin?" Thomas asked,

Lyra rolled her eyes, "Yeah, she refused to leave him behind,"

"She any good?"

Ly looked at Thomas to see if he was mocking her friend but there was nothing of the sort in his eyes,

"She's very good, more than good in fact. She wasn't at music college for nothing," she admitted,

An excited screech sounded from the front of the boat and Ally burst back into the main room.

"All is fine, I've found him," she said with the uttermost importance,

"Sit back down you fool," Lyra said, pulling Ally beside her before she could run off again,

"You going to play for us then? I could do with some entertainment," Minho challenged,

"Only if you're willing to pay," Ally replied cooly, matching his gaze.

"Ohhhh," Chuck jeered from his seat at the navigation desk but he was quickly shut up by the older boy's glare. Chuck just shrugged and went back to turning around on the swivel chair.

"So what do we have? An engineer, a musician, a runner, a child and two pain-in-my-arse's or 'sailors' as I suppose I have to call you now," Lyra remarked,

"I'll have you know I'm a mechanic!" Minho remarked,

"Still a pain in my arse," Lyra shrugged,

"I suppose our crew could be worse," Ally replied,

"How?" Newt asked,

"I don't know, it just could be,"

Minho snorted, "Wise words from the drunk violinist,"

A light snore sounded from the corner. Thomas.

"So lame," Chuck whispered from the corner,

"Personally I'm going to take that as our cue to sleep," Ally pointed out,

"Can someone help me get back to my room?" Newt asked, embarrassed.

"Sure thing roomie," Minho answered, "It's going to be so much fun, sharing secrets, trading gossip, braiding your hair," He pulled the taller boy up without any trouble,

"Why can't I braid your hair?" Newt pointed out,

"Please, my hair is too fabulous to mess with,"

"Help me," Newt mouthed to Ally with a grimace,

She just smiled sweetly and waved goodbye.

Chuck had managed to wake Thomas off and drag him to their room so just the girls were left.

They looked at each other for a second before hugging quickly and heading their separate ways. Within five minutes, everyone on the boat was asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Sorry for the inconsistent updates, I'll try and get back on to the Wednesday-Sunday schedule soon! Anyway, here's a little filler before some action ;) Also, thank you for everyone who has reviewed so far, it is very much appreciated! ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

The next few days passed without any real event. Newt sat on the deck and took it upon himself to boss Thomas around, claiming he needed help after he had risked his life for the boat. Lyra commented that he also risked the boat for their lives, 'but oh well'. Chuck decided to decorate the navigation desk to make it more 'space-like' by renaming useless buttons and drawing pictures of their intergalactic battles and sticking them up. Ally loved them.

Lyra took every opportunity to remind Newt that he had left her boat and that she wasn't going to forget anytime soon.

After sending Thomas down to get him a drink for the third time one morning, Lyra had had enough.

"If you order him around one more time I'm going to pitch you over the railings," she hissed,

"Hey, I screwed up my leg for this boat, I deserve it!"

"I suppose it is nice to see you care a little about my boat,"

"What, is one leg not enough, should I sacrifice both legs next time?"

Lyra was silent for a second,

"Well, I wouldn't be totally against it,"

Minho hid his smile, he would never tell her but the girl was rather good with her words.

By the fifth day, Newt had had enough of being waited on by Thomas and took up his position at the main sail again. Now that both sails were up and under fairly competent control, the boat flew across the water.

It was a particularly hot and stuffy day and Ally was sick of the cabin and needed the fresh air. The water around was clear of obstacles and Lyra let her have ten minutes, being in a good mood due to their new speed.

The warm sea breeze danced through her hair as she walked to the railings nearest Lyra and Newt. She stared out at the sea that stretched out into the distance and let herself be lost in the view, clearing her head and the nausea she didn't want to acknowledge.

"You okay there?" Ly shouted,

"Just fabulous," She called back,

"I'm fabulous," Minho yelled from the centre of the boat,

She rolled her eyes and turned back again, leaning into the railing and trying to clear her head. She stretched her arms out on the railing to keep herself balanced as the boat rocked slightly and -

"You're not going to go all Titanic on us are you?"

"What?" Ally snapped at Newt, why couldn't they leave her alone?

"You look like you're about to start shouting 'I'm flying', and I don't think I can deal with that,"

She shot him an annoyed look,

"Why don't I try to throw myself off the back if we're making references?"

"No, you're not." Lyra said firmly, "You are not recreating ancient film scenes or this is the last time I let you come up for a break,"

She turned to Newt,

"Now, I know you like to leave things unattended, but Ally really needs to get back to navigating,"

"Fine," Ally huffed, "I'll descend back into the underworld to keep you mortals safe,"

"What the hell?" Thomas said, bemused,

"Nothing," she gave a dark laugh,

The stifling heat of the cabin dragged her down as she descended the ladder.

"Ally, you alright?" Chuck asked as she slumped into her chair,

"Never better," she said sweetly, shaking away her bad mood. She noticed the newest addition to Chuck's collection, a ship fighting its way through an asteroid storm.

"This is awesome!" she told him,

"Thanks," he said, his eyes bright, "Do you think we will have a storm soon? Because they always have them in the best sci-fi films and it would be so cool if we had one-"

"Chuck, it really wouldn't be cool if we had one and probably very scary,"

"Oh," was all he said, his eyes dimming. Ally sighed,

"I am very sure we will get some rain at some point but storms at sea are a little different to floating lumps of rock,"

"I suppose,"

"Cheer up, we are going very fast right now and maybe we'll find a new place to land soon,"

In an instant he was excited again and planning their adventures on a new planet. Ally was grateful that Thomas had packed lots of spare paper and pens in his bag. But at the rate Chuck was drawing, they were going to run out of space soon and she didn't think Lyra would appreciate them all over the kitchen.

As it turned out, Chuck got away with his overflowing drawings, thanks to Newt,

"I know you have the tendency to leave the boat as you please, but can you not leave such a mess in the kitchen,"

Ally could tell Lyra wasn't that annoyed anymore but the rising levels of annoyance on Newt's face were worth it.

"There's nothing there!" he complained, slightly limping as he made his way to the kitchen to check,

"I don't know," Ally mused, "you haven't washed the can opener, that's a major offence. And that cupboard is slightly open-"

"It's been nearly a week now, can't you drop it?"

A wicked grin spread over Lyra's face.

"I've just made things worse for myself, haven't I?" Newt said to himself,

He didn't have to look to see everyone, including Chuck, nodding.

"The sooner we get on land, the better,"

"Why, so you can leave my boat again?"

"Argh!" he moaned, throwing himself down onto the sofa in defeat.

"You'll get there one day," Minho said sympathetically, patting him on the head.

Thomas had only joined the boat because he wanted to get his brother out of danger. He hadn't lied when he said he could tie knots but what he hadn't dared admit was that he was scared of sailing. Of course, he hadn't known that until they had set off. There was something about the way the whole boat tilted to the side and the sudden drops as they crested over the waves that made his heart go into overdrive.

Minho was evidently having the time of his life and he enjoyed listening to the conversations on deck but he knew if he tried to join in he would end up vomiting on the deck. So he kept his mouth shut and listened, piecing together everyone's stories and the way they acted, trying to work out what they were like before all of this happened.

Despite all his observations there was one thing that he was certain of; as soon as they got off this boat he was going to run for miles.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Heya! I have nothing to say, just read ;) ~ Sarah and Emma**

It had been a week since they left Leicester before the rain started. The air had become thick and humid overnight and clouds filled the skies providing a break from the Sun for once. They set off as usual, flying over the water, when the first drops began to fall.

Ally looked at the wind speed and the water levels but there was nothing to be concerned about. In fact, they were travelling faster than they had all month. They continued on as the sky got darker and darker until it was almost like nightfall.

Ally waited for Lyra's command to put down the sails but it didn't come. The rain continued to fall heavier with every passing hour as did the wind. Perhaps it felt worse down in the cabin.

Lyra was thankful for the weather, finally the sails were full and they shot along the water, it was the fastest they had gone yet, almost like when she had gone sailing with her Dad.

She looked over the boys, making sure they were dealing alright with the new conditions.

Minho saw her looking over and smirked back,

"Don't worry sunshine, we can handle this," he yelled over. Newt looked slightly less convinced, Lyra knew his leg was stopping him from working at full strength.

But they did handle it. Lyra could see a smile (not a smirk) sneak onto Minho's face as he held the jib firm against a particularly strong gust of wind and even Thomas stopped looking concerned. His face was blank but at least it wasn't the worried frown he had been wearing all week.

A few hours in there was a sudden flash of light on the horizon followed by the distant thunder. Within seconds the rain became a storm and the wind into a gale.

"Okay, time to put down the sails!" Lyra shouted at the boys, but the wind was so strong that is snatched her words and flung them in the opposite direction.

She turned to Thomas who was hovering next to her looking green.

"Go and help them!" she snapped. He took two steps towards Newt before throwing up on the deck and sitting down, holding his head. Lyra wanted to scream when she noticed the radio was crackling,

"What?"

There was static and what could have been words but it was impossible to hear.

She was stuck at the helm and unable to move. She watched as Minho tried to talk to Newt who obviously couldn't hear a thing. Her only hope was that Ally would come up to see what was going on.

Ally had been trying to get Lyra's attention for a while. Had she missed the storm somehow?

"Chuck, it's no use. Can you go and talk to Lyra and ask what is going on?"

He looked scared, his eyes wide as the boat dramatically tilted to one side.

"You were right, this isn't like a spaceship," he quivered,

"Chuck, this is serious, our lives are in danger!" she snapped, "You know what, fine. I'll go up, we can't waste anymore time. Come up if the buttons start flashing,"

"Wait-"

But she was already up and scrambling up the ladder.

Lyra looked relieved when she appeared although was obviously battling with the wheel.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled as she got closer,

"They can't hear me and Thomas is useless. I can't move from here!"

Ally looked over to where Thomas was sat on the deck with his lunch next to him. Perfect.

She raced over to Newt,

"What are you doing?" she yelled as soon as she was in his face, "Put the sail down!"

"I can't by myself, the wind it too strong," he snapped back.

Ally breathed heavily through her nose and grabbed the rope next to him. They worked together to haul it down as the sail tried to pull out of her hands. Ally felt the palms of her hands shredding at the combination of the laminated sailcloth and the water. She kept feeding it through as Newt yanked the rope, his muscles bulging at the effort. It took all her strength too and soon they were racing over to help Minho, who was hopelessly trying to furl the jib on his own. Ally knew she was going to lose her shit the moment the cabin doors closed.

Chuck had never heard Ally snap at him, she was always kind and listened to him, commenting on his pictures and making his time not _that_ boring. Not like Lyra, Lyra scared him. She was so fierce.

When Ally had snapped at him he had felt like crying, he knew he wasn't brave but he was going to go and do what she asked. He would do anything for her, she hadn't given him the chance! So when she didn't come back straight away he knew he could go and help, prove he was serious. Then she would be back to being kind.

He crept up the ladder, his stomach lurching as the wind bit him in the face and he crawled on his hands and knees the rest of the way. This was a bad idea. He turned to go back but then he saw Thomas sitting on the deck, his back turned to him. Why was he on the floor?

Lyra was just visible to his left, squinting into the wind as her hands clutched the wheel but she didn't see him. He moved to go to Thomas when there was a sudden change in wind direction. He heard everyone's yells as the sail switched sides but no one heard his as he fell in shock at the movement and slid across the deck, under the railings. His hands grasped the smooth plastic on the side of the boat, for a moment he thought he could grip it and pull himself up, but it was too wet. He tumbled into the water.

They had nearly finished with the jib when the wind changed direction. Ally nearly fell over but Minho grabbed her arm before she could go flying over the deck. She muttered her thanks. Minho ran to get Thomas as all of them dived down to the cabin, slamming the hatch behind them.

"What the hell Ally! Why did you leave the hatch open in a storm?" Lyra growled, pointing at the wet patch around the bottom of the ladder,

"I didn't!" she protested, "Why didn't you call it sooner? I think that is more of an issue,"

"It was fine until the lightning started. The boy's just couldn't hear me and then Thomas got sick-"

"Don't put the blame on us," Minho jumped in,  
"Minho! I'm not blaming anyone,"

"We did hear you,"

"Then why didn't-" Lyra started, getting angry herself,

"The wind was too powerful to down by ourselves, we needed help, " Newt added, equally furious,

"Well I tried to send help," she said rolling her eyes,

"Again, you should have been down here earlier!" Ally yelled, "We could have capsized and drowned!"

"We were doing fine! _I've_ sailed like that countless times!" Lyra hissed, "And if you saw this coming so easily then why didn't you say something?"

"Because I trusted your judgement and I wasn't on deck,"

"Where's Chuck?" Thomas cut in,

"Oh he's down here somewhere, he didn't come up," Ally said brushing him off. Thomas stood up and walked into his room.

"Oh yeah, all my fault is it?" Lyra went deadly calm,

"Please stop," Newt said, trying to step in between them,

"Shut up Newt," Lyra growled, giving him a shove,

"No, you need to calm down. We're all safe and if we're being honest, a bit of the blame probably lies with all of us,"

"No-"

"He's not here," Thomas said, coming out of his room quickly, "Where is he?" he rounded on Ally,

"I told him to stay down, only to come up if the display went crazy," she said, scared. She ran to her desk, "But there is nothing wrong,"

"The hatch was open," Lyra said quietly.

"No," Thomas whispered, horrified.

He ran to the ladder but Minho was there first, standing in his way,

"Get out the way, Minho," he growled but the older boy just stood there, in the way. He looked pained but didn't move,

"No, it's too dangerous. I can't let you go,"

"He needs me!" Thomas said smashing his hand into the ladder behind Minho.

"I know," Minho paused, his own emotions starting to show, "but I can't let you-"

"Let me through,"

"Thomas, please," Lyra said, not wanting to lose another,

"This is your fault!" he yelled, turning on Ally who had come up beside him, "you said he would be safe down here, you were in charge,"

Faster than anyone thought was possible he slapped her and pushed past Minho and onto the deck. Ally was right behind him but Minho grabbed the back of her top and dragged her forcefully back into the cabin.

She lay there, winded as she listened to Thomas' frantic footsteps racing above.

Newt pulled her up but she wouldn't make eye contact. Thomas was right, it was her fault, she had been in charge. Chuck had probably only wanted to help once she had left and followed her. She was vaguely aware of Lyra leaving the room, although she didn't care enough to know where.

Thomas appeared in the cabin, water soaking him through.

"He's not there," he muttered.

"Thomas," Minho said tentatively,

"He's not there," he said, not hearing him, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"I'm sorry,"

He looked up at Ally's voice, his eyes turning icy before storming into his room and slamming the door. Minho went to follow him but Newt stopped him,

"He needs to be alone," he said gently,

Minho nodded, looking lost.

"Yeah, I'm just going to-" Minho mumbled, turning to his room. Newt could have sworn he saw a hint of tears in his eyes.

"Ally?" Newt asked once Minho was out the room. She slowly turned towards him,

"It's my fault," she whispered before the tears began to fall,

"No, don't," he said, going to give her a hug. She let him for a second then shrugged him off.

"I'm going to bed," she said, turning away,

"Don't blame yourself Ally,"

She kept walking.

"Allegra."

She didn't even hear him.

 **Sorry xx**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Apologies for the lack of posting, exam results messed me around. But, on with the story. Just for future reference, there will be a few M rated scenes (not saying who or what ;) ) but they will be clearly to marked. Anyway, on with the story~ Sarah and Emma**

Lyra walked from the cabin, unable stay a moment longer with the others. She sat on her bed, staring blankly at the walls, trying to process what had happened. Someone under her command was dead.

A child was dead.

She looked at the pictures that used to be on her bedside table, now scattered across the floor. There weren't any pictures anywhere else on the boat but her Dad had kept a few in his cabin, now hers.

"I failed them Daddy," she whispered, bending down and picking up the one closest to her. There was a faint crack in the glass from when it had fallen but the picture was still clear and that was all that mattered. It was from ten years ago, her Dad still had his hair and she was nine, smiling as he taught her how to helm her new boat.

A memory filtered through.

" _Can I look yet?" she whined, keeping her eyes tightly closed,_

" _Just a few more steps," her Dad laughed, guiding her along the harbour,_

 _They stopped and Lyra could hear the faint snap of sails in the breeze and the sea air gently brushing her face._

" _You can look now,"_

 _She opened her eyes and saw a small boat_ _with a plastic hull, moored in front of her... The sail had looked huge back then, towering over her._

" _She's yours," he said as she stared at him wonderingly,_

 _She threw herself into his arms,_

" _Thank you, thank you, thank you," she yelled as he laughed and held her tightly._

" _She needs a name," he said after she untangled herself from his arms._

 _She thought for a moment, this was important after all._

" _Calypso," she said confidently,_

 _Her Dad was lost for words for a second,_

" _Why?"_

" _Because you said your first boat was called that," she said as if it were obvious,_

 _He laughed._

" _Do you want to take her out?"_

" _Yeah! But I want to be in charge,"_

" _Well this boat is a little different to the ones you've sailed before,"_

" _Don't worry, I'll keep you safe,"_

 _He laughed,_

" _I don't doubt that,"_

" _Yeah, and one day I'll be in charge of a huge boat and we'll go on lots of adventures,"_

 _He ruffled her hair,_

" _Just be sure you all come home,"_

 _She looked at him, confused,_

" _Of course we will,"_

"But we won't," she said as the tears began to fall, "And you left me,"

There was a soft knock on her door.

"Piss off!" she growled, her voice coming out weaker than she intended it,

"Nope," Minho said, coming into the room,

"Get out!" she yelled,

"What's got you so pissy?"

"None of your damn business!"

"I've lost a brother, you have no right to be upset,"

"If you're going to throw accusations in my face, then just leave me alone,"

"Accusations? What are you on about?"

"Just stop, why are you even in here?"

"The storm's dying down," he said as if dazed, "I thought you'd want to check the sails aren't ripped,"

"Fuck the sails,"

He looked at her strangely for a second,

"Are you blaming yourself for this?"

"Aren't you? It's my boat, you are all my responsibility,"

"No, we all knew the risks when we got on a bloody boat,"

"He was a child,"  
"He was Thomas' brother and my friend, he was ours to protect,"

"Then why aren't you blaming yourself? Or even Ally like Thomas,"

He laughed,

"Oh I am, but I'm also blaming all of us,"

"If he came out of the hatch then he would have been right in front of me, how could I not have seen him, seen something," The tears began building up again. She blinked them away, furious.

"Ally should have kept him down here, Thomas should have seen something, we all should have heard something. But we all failed,"

She couldn't stop the tears from falling,

"I know, but I can't help it... the guilt," she confessed feeling her voice break a bit,

He stood by the door, unable to say anything but unable to leave. He moved to the sofa and sat opposite her, not touching but understanding. And that was all she needed.

Newt had gone back to his room after Ally walked away from him, nothing to be done but try and get his head around the fact that Chuck was gone. Drowned. Possibly still floating in the water, very much alive, but impossible to find.

Minho was there, sat on the top bunk.

"Why?" Was all he said, staring into space,

Newt shook his head,

"Why him?"

"I don't know," he whispered, adding, "The storm's calming," to try and change the topic.

"I should go and tell Lyra," Minho mumbled, leaving him as he jumped down and left the room.

Newt sighed as he sat down on his bunk. He hadn't known Chuck that well, but losing one person was one person too many. A child.

A child who had covered Ally's desk with pictures and brought them food and-.

He cut himself off. He was done with guilt, not that he still didn't feel it. He had just let go of the stabbing pain his family had left him with, he couldn't go back. Not now.

Ally was done.

She had lost Rhea and kept it together for Lyra but Chuck was too much. She had technically been in charge of him and she had seen the way he had followed her around, doing everything she had said. He had looked up to her and she hadn't blamed him. She had cared, so much. Too much.

So she was done. If she didn't care about the others then when they inevitably left or died, it wouldn't hurt. This guilt, it was just too much.

So she lay in bed and didn't move, didn't feel. Just shut out the world.

They didn't move until the next day, no one willing to go up on deck and examine the damage.

Lyra emerged first and woke up the others, knocking on their doors.

Only the boys came out. Thomas' eyes were bloodshot but at least he was up and functioning. Minho walked over to him and they talked quietly in the corner as Newt walked over to Lyra.

"What do we need to do today?" he asked and Lyra silently thanked him for his attempt at normalcy.

"Most stuff was washed off the deck last night so we need to work out what we have lost. The sails need to be checked and Ally needs to get out of bed so she can work out where we are,"

Lyra walked over to Ally's door,

"Get up," she snapped, banging on her door again, "we have a lot to do,"

Ally emerged silently, long blonde hair a mess and for the first time not even tied up but she was in clean clothes. Lyra raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

She called the boys over and explained her plan,

"Okay, time to carry on. Ally, can you find our location? We also need to check for damage. The sails could be ripped and someone needs to check the hull and rudder, any volunteers for a swim?"

There was a silence that almost became too long when Newt said, rather begrudgingly,

"I'll do it, I've repaired boats like this,"

"Fab, we'll tie a rope around your waist. Minho, put down the anchor and Thomas help me with the sails,"

They moved to their respective places. It didn't take Ally long to turn the machine on and read the map but she didn't want to join them on deck. The drawings were still everywhere and she tore them down. But she couldn't bring herself to throw away the evidence that he had lived. She folded them up and stuffed them in the bottom of one of the storage units.

His paper was still lying on the floor next to her chair, waiting for him to return.

That disappeared too, hidden in the same place.

"Ally!" Lyra's voice drifted down,

She closed her eyes, wondering how long she could leave it before Lyra got angry.

"ALLEGRA!"

There it was.

She made her way up and Lyra shoved a rope into her hands.

"All sorted?"

Ally nodded,  
"Good, help me hold onto this, Newt's about to jump in,"

She looked up and saw Newt wearing a dry suit that hung off him, clearly a couple of sizes too big. Ally assumed it had belonged to Lyra's' father. His life jacket clung tighter which she supposed was a good thing. Newt, however, was looking less than happy to be entering the water. He climbed down the ladder at the back and into the cold sea.

Ally wondered if the salt water would help heal his leg.

The boat got away with no damage but it did nothing to ease the crew's minds. They set off again after lunch, once again heading north. The joking and talking that had helped the endless hours go by were gone and Thomas suspected it would be awhile before they were back to how things were before. If that was even possible.

He descended into the cabin with the others after sunset and sat down, looking around tiredly. He was instantly awake when he saw the navigation desk.

"Where are his drawings?"

Ally looked at him slowly and shrugged, "Gone," was all she said,

"Where? What did you do with them?"

"They were in the way, no need for them,"

"You had no right," he seethed,

"Oh stop whining Thomas, they're in that drawer," she pointed to the kitchen,

He shot her a glare as he stalked past and checked they were in there.

"If you had destroyed them," he spoke quietly,

"Stop being so sentimental, they're just drawings," she snapped,

"Ally, stop being a bitch," Lyra commented as she came through the hatch,

The other girl huffed but didn't say anything else.

Newt had watched the whole interaction between Ally and Thomas but hadn't stepped in. He didn't know how to help, she had pushed him away last night and that should have been a sign to step away. He shouldn't care but to his annoyance, he did.

Over the next few days Newt watched as time and time again Lyra tried to talk to her, break her out of it, but Ally just ignored her. She dragged a dark cloud around her and Newt was glad she wasn't on deck. She projected her emotions too clearly.

After yet another argument between her and Thomas she stormed back to her cabin. He expected Lyra to follow her but the girl just looked at her friend's door sadly and turned to Thomas.

"I'm sorry Thomas, I really am. I… I've never known her to be like this,"

Newt hadn't tried to talk to her. If she wouldn't talk to Lyra, why would she talk to him? He left her alone, maybe she just needed time.

Ally made it to her room before the tears started.

 _I don't care,_ she told herself.

The others looked at her like they didn't know her anymore, maybe that was good.

 _I don't care,_

The more she told herself, the easier it was to believe. But why did the tears still come?

She waited for Lyra to come in and rant at her for being a bitch as she had done every night.

She never came.

She had done it. Finally they would stop trying to get her to care again. She could stay here, alone. No one hovering over her shoulder. No one caring.

Her tears stopped. There was no need for them anymore. There were no tears left to fall.

Ally didn't appear for food but no one made any move to bring her some. Newt raised his eyebrow at Lyra but she caught his eye and shook her head.

"I'm not going in there again tonight,"

"It's only been five days,"

"I don't care, she's not rational, and it's clearly not working,"

"What do you mean?" Newt pressed,

"She just doesn't listen to me! She carries on hurting everyone around her and I'm sick of being the one to deal with it. She can make her own choices, and she has. It's not my duty, or anyone else's, to help her if she refuses it,"

He nodded.

"I'll go chuck her some food then,"

"She can come out and get it. I won't tiptoe around her, no matter how catatonic she is. If she wants some goddamn food she can bloody well get her arse out here and stop sulking. If Thomas can attend meals, then so can she,"

"Fine,"

He sat where he was, it still didn't sit right though.

Once Lyra had left for bed later that evening, Newt grabbed the open tin and limped to Ally's cabin, knocking on the door gently,

"What?" the muffled voice came through the door,

"I brought you some leftovers," he said, opening the door.

She lay on the bed blankly, staring out of the skylight,

"I heard Lyra,"

"Still doesn't mean you shouldn't eat,"

"I'm not hungry,"  
"Everyone on this boat is hungry,"

She turned onto her side, away from him,

"Just leave,"

"No,"

"Yes, you will," her voice was so empty,

"We are trying to help you, why won't you let us,"

"Why can't you see that I don't want help, I don't need it. I don't care. Not anymore,"

"I care," he kept his voice steady, he needed her to know he meant it. He cared about her, he cared about all of them,

"No. You don't." she matter-of-factly,

"At least eat-"

"Stop pretending I matter!" she put her hands over her ears, "I don't care about you, or anyone on this boat. I'll help you get to land but that is all. Now get out!"

"Or what?"

"I'll make you,"

He laughed weakly, "I'd like to see you try,"

That was the wrong thing to say. She jumped off the bed and turned around, her butcher's knife in her hands. Her eyes were red but no tears fell and her cheeks were not wet.

"Get out," she said calmly,

"Jesus, okay, I get it," he said, slowly backing out the door, adding under his breath, "Psycho"

Minho was standing on the other side.

"I see that went well,"

"Shut up," he snarled before going into his cabin and slamming the door. He had tried.

He didn't go to see her again.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Hello and welcome back to regular updates. Uni starts in a month, it's a weird feeling, we both started writing fanfiction three years ago. There is an M rated scene in here but it is clearly marked and we didn't want to mark the whole story as M as then it gets lost on the site and no one would see it :( So skip it if you like, there is no plot as such, just a bit of** ** _light_** **relief. Wow, this is a long note, well enjoy and see you on Wednesday!~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

Things didn't get any better. It had been a week since Chuck had died and while Thomas was slowly coming around, Ally got worse. Lyra missed her best friend but nothing she did made any difference. She was tired of her attitude but knew that given enough time she would bring herself around. Rhea had always been the one to deal with her when she had got like this in the past, although it had never been this bad.

As long as Ally kept doing her job she didn't care what she did.

"You alright?" Minho said as they sat in the cabin after another long day, "you're staring into space again,"

She gave him a small smile, "Yeah, thanks,"

Ever since he had found her after Chuck's death something had changed between them. He was still sarcastic, as was she, but there was a hidden layer of concern that she didn't feel like she had to brush away.

"Lyra, I don't want to be the one to tell you this but we are running low on food," Newt said from the kitchen,

"How low?" she asked, wearily,

"We have ten tins,"

"That's three days, at a push," she said, dropping her head into her arms,

"It's not like we've passed anywhere to land," Ally muttered from the corner,

"She speaks!" Minho remarked,

Lyra shot him a glance before turning to Ally,

"Where are we?"

"Nearing Scotland, around Northumberland,"

"Anywhere you think we can get to?" she said kindly, Ally was almost being civil,

The other girl just shot her a long look,

"I'm not psychic,"

"What is your problem?" Lyra hissed,

"My problem is that I'm not already off this boat,"

"If you jumped off the boat I don't think any of us would complain," Thomas shot,

Ally was up and striding across the room in a heartbeat but Newt was quicker. He grabbed her arm and stood in between them.

"No more bloody fighting, I am sick of it. Either you both stay in here and be quiet or one of you buggers off,"

"We're not misbehaving toddlers," Ally snapped back,

"Then stop acting like one,"

She pulled her arm out of his grip but stayed where she was, turning to face Lyra.

"I'll look at the maps tomorrow and get us on land as quickly as possible, just don't expect a miracle,"

"Good,"

She strode towards her room,

"You haven't eaten," Lyra called after her,

"Not hungry,"

"Ally!"

But she was already gone.

"If she carries on like this then the food will last longer," Thomas remarked,

"If she carries on like this then she will collapse at her desk and we'll never make it to land," Lyra countered angrily.

"I thought you didn't care," Minho whispered in her ear.

"I don't," she said out loud.

Newt passed her a tin.

"Mmm, cold baked beans for the fourth night in a row," she sighed,

 **M-scene starts here ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minho followed her into her cabin that night, she could tell he was following her but made no attempt to send him away.

"I know I asked earlier but I'm asking again, you alright?" he asked once he had shut the door.

She turned to face him, a weary expression on her face.

"No,"

He slowly started walked towards her,

"My best friend is unrecognisable, a child is still dead and we're running out of supplies." She kept looking down, too tired to lift her head. He reached up and brushed her short dark hair out of her face, leaving his hand there. She blinked in surprise but didn't pull away.

"It wouldn't be so bad if I still had Ally," she admitted,

"You talk as if she no longer exists,"

"She may as well not exist. Just when I need her the most she disappears,"

"Maybe she will come back, maybe she won't," Minho said after a short silence, "But I do know you can't just stop and wait for her,"

"I want to help her,"

"And you can't waste time on someone who doesn't want help. That's what you said a few days ago,"

"Doesn't mean I meant them,"

"I know," he said quietly,

Lyra looked up, he was so close; staring at her as if he wanted to help and didn't know how. She knew he cared, could see it in the way he watched her when he thought she couldn't tell and talked to her in their breaks. Cared was a bit of an understatement but she couldn't bring herself to consider the truth, not in this moment. Right now, all she wanted was a distraction.

She took the last small step forwards, closing the gap in between them. She looked up at him. Though she was tall he still towered over her. She could feel his breath on her face,

"Thank you," she said, "I couldn't do this without you,"

He said nothing, only lowering his face slowly until their lips touched. He kissed them carefully and pulled back to look at her. Seeing that she did not protest he kissed them again, and again. His hands went to her lower back to pull her closer and the other tangling in her hair. His kisses became deeper and harder and kissed her like he had been starved of human interaction for months which she supposed, in a boys world, a month was. She met every inch of his fire with an inferno of her own. She held onto him like it was all that she could do not to slip away to the ocean. To live. She wasn't sure what it was, but it felt as if she was finally getting back a missing piece. A piece she hadn't even realised wasn't there.

He pulled away, a dazed look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but Lyra didn't want to hear him talk and say things which she couldn't say back.

"Don't say anything," she breathed and he took the cue, leaning back into her.

His tongue slid over her lip and they parted in return. He moved further into her mouth with a passion she had never felt. She shuddered as he explored her mouth, giving herself over to the sensation and blocking out all the events of the past month. His hands drifted lower and something tugged at her stomach. She pressed her body into his and felt him against her hips. Was she going to do this?

His hands went to her thighs and picked her up easily. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to her bed, not stopping their kiss. He lowered her down gently and hovered above her. Her mind was racing, all thoughts seemed to be in pieces. Yes, she was going to do this.

He pulled away again, "You sure-?"

"Yes," She said firmly, cutting him off. A wicked smile grew on his face as he reached for the hem of her top tugging it over her head. She moved to help him and then pulled him back down into a kiss. She didn't want to think tonight, not once.

For a split second his body was gone. She opened her eyes and he was there again, with no shirt on. Hell, all that sailing had gone to use. His lean muscles were easy to see as he supported his weight on his arms.

"Like what you see?" He said with an infuriating smirk,

She rolled her eyes, and shoved him but he didn't move an inch. He slowly lowered his lips to her neck, working up the line of her jaw to her ear. Jesus Christ the things he could do with those lips…

She reached down to the button on his shorts and started to undo it, though everything seemed ten times harder with the distraction. His tongue swept over her ear, taking small bites at her earlobe, driving her insane.

She shoved his shorts down and he drew back to pull them off.

"Now, seriously, how the hell do I get that off?" He gave a confused look at her sports bra.

"I mean, I always go by the rule, if you can't take it off with one hand it doesn't come off, but that seems a bit unfair in this case," she said laughing,

"Oh, is that a challenge?" He replied, all arrogance,

"Minho, even I can't get this off with one hand,"

"Alright, alright, come here,"

He ran his hands down her arms helping her to sit up before they struggled together to bring it up over her head. Once successful he threw it across the room as hard as he could,

"Stupid things," he sighed,

"Uh, not stupid, otherwise they'd be bouncing around when I'm on deck,"

"Wouldn't see me complaining," He brought his mouth down hard on hers to silence any retorts,

His hands slipped slowly up her bare torso, sending shivers down her. She knew she wanted more, if only he would stop teasing her so damn much.

"Well worth the effort," he whispered against her mouth,

"Minho," her voice came out as a soft whine,

"Alright, love, alright," he laughed and she hated how much she loved it,

He didn't waste time taking her shorts and underwear off in one leaving her completely exposed. He looked over her body for a second but before she could become self conscious he started to kiss her again, starting with the base of her neck and working his way down. Holy hell, she hadn't felt like this before, and she had thought his mouth was good on her neck…

Her breath came out in long sighs, catching every now and then as her heart raced in her cheat.

He began to move his mouth back up along her torso as he pushed his boxers off,

"And you're sure this is what you want?" he pressed the tip against her, and she wasn't sure if he was still teasing her or asking for consent at this point. She could not form the words so tugged at his waist pulling their bodies as close as bodies can be.

Her body tensed but not because of any pain, more longing and anticipation.

He pulled her close, wanting to hear her breath becoming ragged and the soft moans that escape her lips. He hated that she was having to keep herself quiet. He had been wanting her for a while now, but something changed recently. She wasn't just hot anymore, she was beautiful. He knew he was going to make sure she enjoyed this, that it was for her. He should have seen it coming when she pushed him off, flipping them over. She always liked to be in control. He didn't mind one bit. He looked up at her with that feral grin on her face, dark eyes glinting and short hair everywhere. Though she would always be independent, strong and wild, in that moment she was his. He could never have asked for anything more.

 **M-scene end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Newt tilted his head as Minho followed Lyra when she left the cabin but didn't say anything.

"I swear if I hear anything tonight I'll kill them," Thomas grumbled, turning to his own room.

"For once I'm thankful I'm neighbours with Grumpy back here," Newt said with a grin,

"I'm not sure what's worse," Thomas stopped, turning around, "Sleeping near two hormonal adults or a psychopath,"

"Hey, that's unfair!"

"I know she threatened you with a knife the other night,"

He was right.

"And she more or less killed my brother,"

"That is not true!" He said angrily,

"Isn't it?" Thomas looked at him sadly, "Look, I don't know her that well but she's not exactly falling over herself to make amends, even if her part in his death was accidental as Minho keeps insisting,"

"She feels guilty,"

"And I don't?"

Newt was stuck for words.

"You know I'm right," Thomas said calmly,

He turned back to his cabin, "Night Newt,"

"Night," The other boy replied to an already closed door.

It made Ally smile that the others forgot she could hear everything they said in the main room from her cabin. It was true that she should eat but she wasn't hungry. She had even had lunch today, she was hardly starving. Her stomach might have told her otherwise if she listened to anything other than her brain these days.

Interesting, Minho and Lyra. She had nothing against them being together but she hadn't seen any sort of interest on Lyra's side. If she cared a bit more she might have asked Lyra but at the same time she knew she could look after herself. They weren't in school anymore and Lyra wasn't sneaking out to meet boys in town as she used to. Ally smiled at the memories; of staying up past one in the morning to open the back door and let her in and then staying up the rest of the night to find out every detail.

Or as much as Lyra would say.

And there were a few nights when Ally herself had snuck out but those were rare and rather less exciting.

It was all in the past now anyway.

" _She more or less killed my brother,"_ Thomas' angry voice drifted through the walls. She cringed but let his angry words fill her.

"I know, Thomas, I know," she whispered as she lay back and stared out the sky light, blocking out the rest of their conversation. She didn't want to know what they were saying. The stars hadn't changed position from last night, or the night before that, or all week and she knew they wouldn't. Yet they were accelerating away from her into the endlessly expanding Universe, trying to get as far away as they possibly could. Everything was running away from her it seemed.

She didn't blame them.

They set off again as they had all week the next morning. Another tin disappeared from the kitchen and the cabin heated up with the rising Sun. The only slight change was Minho appearing from Lyra's room. He looked a lot happier than he had all week and even Lyra was smiling.

"Seen anything?" Lyra asked, seeing Ally looking over her mainland maps,

"Nope," she said sharply,

Lyra rolled her eyes and headed to the ladder,

"Wait- there might be something 30 miles north. There's an area of high land on the coast that might still exist,"

"Sounds unlikely," Lyra shrugged,

"You asked me to find you land, I'm just doing what you asked," Ally spat back,

"You haven't found it yet," Lyra said coolly, swinging up the ladder and into the Sun,

Ally was about to shout after her but didn't have the energy. She never did.

The tin from breakfast was sitting on her desk, waiting for her to eat her portion as she did every morning after everyone had gone on deck. Today she didn't feel it, didn't feel like doing anything at all.

It was mid-afternoon when Ally heard Lyra's shouts blaring out of her radio.

"There's a settlement!"

They were around the area Ally had pointed out this morning.

"I told you so," she sighed,

"Just get us closer,"

"I can't see, where exactly are we heading,"

"I don't know, it looks like one building actually. Pretty large and on a cliff edge,"

Ally looked at her maps.

"Could it be a castle?"

"You serious?"

"Yes I'm fucking serious," Ally growled,

She could hear Lyra shouting at the others,

"Yes, fine, it could be a castle," her voice came back down the line,

"Right, I think I know where we are. There are a lot of small islands off the coast around here which we will sail right into if we're not careful,"

"Then we'd better be careful," She could practically hear the ice in Lyra's voice.

"I'm not going to sabotage your boat Lyra, you know me,"

"I'm not sure I do," Lyra replied. Ally felt her heart shatter, she didn't know it could get worse.

She was silent, there was nothing more to say.

Once they got close enough, Ally detected the islands, around 5km off shore. It was awful, there were thousands of hidden rocks under the surface surrounding them and all the way to the shore. If she didn't concentrate then they'd end up badly damaged or even sinking. She held her head as she began directing Lyra. They wouldn't even be attempting this if they weren't so low on food.

Her head spun as she stared at the screens. When was the last time she ate? Yesterday evening?

No. Yesterday lunch. How hadn't she noticed?

They slowly wove through water and she vaguely heard Lyra tell Minho to put down the jib. That was a good idea.

She gave a few more instructions then closed her eyes for a second. If she could just concentrate for another hour then she could get up and eat. Wait, the tin on the desk from breakfast!

"Ally!" Lyra yelled down,

Her eyes snapped open and she noticed time had passed quicker than she realised. She barked a few more instructions, narrowly avoiding scraping the hull on a hidden cliff. The tin was still there so she grabbed it and gulped down the cold soup. It wasn't enough but at least she wasn't running on empty. Lyra was going to kill her.

 _Let her_ she thought.

Another hour later and they made it to shore. They stopped a few meters out and let down the anchor. The water really wasn't that deep around here, just enough for the boat to still float. They'd have to either pull it on shore in the morning or paddle out.

Ally's head was spinning like crazy. Out of the window she thought she could see rolling hills or were they sand dunes? Her tired brain couldn't tell. The Sun was setting and the others were coming down. She could hear their excited shouts as they descended down the ladder. Ally made her way to the kitchen to get some food, that was all she could think of.

"Ally, what are you doing?"

"Food," She mumbled, reaching up into a cupboard. Her head was so light.

"Greedy shank," Minho snorted behind Lyra.

"Shank?" Lyra questioned.

"Yeah, just means idiot, but in a nice way,"

"Don't you mean yourself-"

Ally stopped listening. It wasn't a choice, her ears started ringing and her vision spotted as she felt herself fall to the floor.

 _I am an idiot_ she thought as she blanked out.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hello, only a day late ;) Enjoy! ~ Sarah and Emma**

Lyra watched as Ally fell to the floor, tin in hand. She raced over to her and shook her shoulder, the other girl groaned and tried to push her hand away.

"What's wrong?" to her annoyance, Lyra couldn't keep the concern out of her voice,

"Nothing, just overtired," she gritted out, holding her head where she had hit it on the floor,

"Then why were you reaching for a tin?"

"Because I haven't eaten properly since yesterday lunch, okay?" Ally was trying to be angry but there was a lack of impact,

"You idiot!"

"Well, I did eat something as we made our way through the islands," she amended as she sat up,

Lyra tensed her hands to stop herself from slapping the girl,

"Oh how nice, a snack as we did one of the hardest channels all month,"

"Better that than not being able to concentrate,"

"If you'd eaten properly that wouldn't have been a problem. You could have collapsed at the desk and sunk us!"

"Lucky I didn't then!"

"I don't know what you think you're doing Allegra but it needs to stop, now." Lyra spoke quietly, staring her right in the eye.

She stared right back.

"Can we just eat, I'm starving," Thomas commented from behind them,

"Here," Minho threw her a tin opener, "I want you to eat first. I don't trust you not to skive,"

"Minho," Lyra shot him a dirty look,

Ally said nothing, pulling herself up and eating her share under the silent watch of the crew before walking back to her room.

"Ally please-"

"Save it Ly, go talk about it with your new boyfriend,"

"Ally, he is-"

But she didn't wait to hear the rest.

Lyra wanted to cry as she watched Ally walk out. She was destroying herself but she wouldn't let anyone in. She didn't think Ally knew how to anymore.

"What do you think is out there?" Newt said, pointing to the large castle they had stopped beneath.

"I don't know, but I can see faint lights," Thomas commented from his position at the window.

"Definitely people then, but friendly?" Minho asked,

"We'll just have to see," Lyra murmured. They would all need to act like a unified group against whatever gang they came across as there were so few of them. But how could they with Ally?

"She's not going to let us leave her behind," Minho said beside her,

She quickly turned to him, "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Cos you were speaking to yourself," he smirked,

She shoved his arm, he didn't even move,

"I know you're right," she sighed, "I can't help being scared though,"

"Lyra, scared?" he said in mock horror,

She scowled, "Slightly concerned then, better?"

"Better,"

Newt was glad to see land. The faint flicker of lights at the windows of the castle proved that life had gone on and people were living together. Maybe they could stay here.

He looked around at his friends gathered in the cabin and realised that where they wanted to go, he'd go too. Even Ally. He thought back to when they had first met. She had been so different, the cool to Lyra's fire. Now there were two flames on board and the ship was ablaze. He looked at her door, why wouldn't she let them in?

He was angry, she had shown him how to deal with the grief of his family but wouldn't listen when it was her turn. Why couldn't she see it was the same? The others drifted back to their rooms; well, Minho went with Lyra; and Thomas caught him looking at Ally's door.

"Don't do it," he said, catching his eye.

But Thomas was hurting as well and was placing all the blame on Ally. He had taken in what the shorter boy had said last night but didn't want to believe it, couldn't just yet. Ally was still in there somewhere.

Someone knocked on Ally's door. She wasn't sure who it was, Lyra? Or Newt? In any case she didn't want to see them.

They knocked again before walking in. It was Newt.

"Get out," She said, not bothering to look away from the stars.

"No," he said firmly, closing the door behind him, "Not until you tell me what is going on,"

She sat up, "Nothing is going on,"

"You're not eating, you're picking fights with everyone and you're moody all the time, something is obviously wrong,"

"I think you know perfectly well what is going on," She reached under her mattress to where she kept her knife. That had worked last time.

"You feel guilty for Chuck's death, I get that. But why shut yourself off, why act like you don't care about any of us. Why change who you are so completely?" He took a step closer,

"I've not changed one bit," she seethed,

"You're lying to yourself and you know it," he countered.

" _We all deal with things differently,_ "

"You can't use your own words against me"

She was up, knife in hand again,

"Get out,"

"No," he stormed towards her and knocked the knife out of her hands in a few seconds, moving too fast for her to realise what had just happened. He held her forearms and she tried to pull free,

"Let. Me. Go," She growled,

"Not until you snap out of it,"

"Let go!" She pulled against his hands but they were too strong. There was a voice telling her he was right but she shook her head. She didn't have time for that.

He stared at her, anger pouring off him as she struggled against him. Suddenly he moved forwards, the movement so fast she was sure he was going to slap her. Instead, she felt his lips crash into hers. Her brain froze.

Newt had had enough, why didn't she listen? Why didn't she just bloody listen? She had to know he cared, that she was hurting him with this, why couldn't she see? He looked at her writhing beneath him, fighting him. He knew that some part of her was fighting herself as well. He had to make her understand, and if words wouldn't do it?

He felt her lips on his and her body stopped struggling under his arms. He pulled away,

"What the-" There was a fire burning in her eyes but before she could start struggling he leaned in to kiss her again. He couldn't stop himself.

She froze again and he was about to pull away for the second time when we felt her slowly move against him, returning his kiss. He loosened his hold on her arms and went to her waist, pulling her close. Her hands crawled up his back and onto his neck, pulling him down, closer.

She pulled away, the fire in her eyes changed into one of want, not anger.

"Why won't you listen?" Newt asked,

She turned away from him, the fire quickly dimming and he could see the tears building in her eyes.

"Let me in," he pleaded,

She shook her head gently, sadly.

"You should go," she said, looking at the wall,

"I can't,"

She looked up at him, more vulnerable than he had ever seen her. The hard mask was gone, showing all her pain and grief.

He hesitated.

"Please,"

Her voice broke and he watched as silent tears started falling. He reached out and put his arms around her and she let him. No sharp remarks or yelling, finally he was getting through.

"I need to sleep and I need time to think," she whispered as he held her, trying to pull herself out of his arms.

"Come on," he said, leading her to the bed. He let her go and she crawled into bed, all her fighting and struggling seemed to be gone.

"Night Ally," he said walked to the door,

"Stay!" She blurted out. He stopped suddenly and turned, raising an eyebrow at her,

"First you want me out and now stay?"

She looked lost and confused.

"What do you really want?" He asked,

"I don't know," she answered miserably,

"Well when you do, come and find me. I'm only next door,"

"Night Newt," he heard as he closed the door behind him.

"What just happened?" Minho asked as he entered his cabin.

Newt jumped and spun around,

"What the hell I thought you were with Lyra!" he hissed,

Minho shrugged,

"Nah, not tonight. More importantly, you went to see the dragon,"

"I was concerned!"

"Did she threaten you with a knife again?"

"No, well yes but it didn't work,"  
Minho rolled his eyes,

"You have the worst taste in girls," he muttered as he lay down in his bunk,

"Who is saying I'm interested?" Newt argued back,

"All of us you idiot, now go to sleep,"

Newt scowled up at the top bunk but the boy refused to look at him.

Typical.

He lay down in his bed and tried to sleep but all he could think about was the way she had looked at him after she had pulled away and the feel of her lips on his. He knew she cared, he had felt it.

The next morning they headed out early.

"Who's going to stay on the boat?" Lyra asked, looking around. Ideally Ally would but in her current state she would need someone else to stay with which she couldn't afford to do, Newt's leg was basically healed and had a bad record with staying on boats and Thomas looked like he couldn't wait to get off the boat any sooner and would be good on land if he could run. That left Minho. It startled her that she trusted him so much, nearly as much as she had once Ally.

"Minho?" she asked,

"Yeah," he shrugged,

"We'll contact you if there is an emergency," she grabbed the radio off the navigation desk, "The rest of you, grab a bag and a bottle of water and let's get going,"

Everyone was still half asleep but they nodded and went to grab their bags. Lyra watched as Ally walked out of her room, slipping her knife into her belt. She winced, the knife was huge and Ally had never been particularly coordinated.

"Minho, if you dare leave this boat I will make sure you break both your legs," she said with a little glance at Newt who glared at her.

"Sure thing sunshine," Minho replied with a smirk, "Hurry up and get going, I'm bored already,"

Lyra rolled her eyes and made her way on deck, the others following behind.

"We're going to have to swim, you think you can manage it Ally?" she challenged. But to her surprise the girl smiled slightly and nodded instead of snapping back,

"Great," Lyra replied, caught slightly off guard.

She watched as Ally made her way down the ladder without complaint and into the water, Thomas right behind. It wasn't hard to see the boy was desperate to be back on land. Lyra exchanged a glance with Newt who smiled slightly before following Ally. What had she missed?

They all made it the 200 meters to the base of the hills, the coastline bending off into the distance and the sand dunes tumbling into the sea and rose high above them, blending with the high cliffs that obscured the view of the castle they had seen from the boat. There was no sign of human life or that there had ever been, it was wild and beautiful.

"Come on, why are we all waiting around?" Thomas asked, happier than he had been since they had met.

Lyra rolled her eyes and set off, up the sandy bank with Thomas scampering in front with energy that rivaled Chuck's. The thick grass cut into their hands when they grabbed it and the thick heat that was present even this far north took their breath away as they struggled up. They sat on the ground to catch their breath when they made it to the top and looked out over the ocean. Below Lyra could see her boat, the sails down and slightly rocking in the deep blue sea, looking more like a toy than an eight man yacht.

"What's that?" Thomas asked, pointing to an island to the north, obviously fairly big to have survived with the raised sea levels.

"I think it is Lindisfarne," Ally replied nonchalantly.

"Where are we then?" Lyra questioned,

"Northumberland, this castle is called Bamburgh on the map,"

"So are we near Scotland or…?" Lyra raised her eyebrow, how long would the other girl's good mood last?

"We're above Newcastle, okay?" Ally snapped,

Not very long apparently. Lyra watched as Newt caught Ally's eye and brushed his fingers against her own. Interesting. She took a deep breath and continued,

"I looked at the map again this morning, I sort of know where we are," she looked out at the island, "I used to come to this area in the summer, away from the rest of the world and out of sight, just how I was wanted," she said, more to herself than the others,

Lyra knew Ally's past as well as she knew her own, this must be the mysterious summer hideout she had gone to every August. Lyra smiled at the memories, the constant exchange of letters and postcards during the long holiday months between the three of them, even though they all had phones. It had drawn out the time they had been separated.

"Let's go!" Thomas said, springing to his feet,

"Fetch!" Lyra replied, throwing a piece of driftwood into the dunes, Thomas scowled at her, "You're like a dog impatient for a walk, we're coming," Lyra continued, standing up.

They kept going through the hills, the castle seeming to get no closer as the made their way down the steep slopes and struggled even more on the way up. Newt's leg had seemed to be alright back on the boat but was proving to be getting more painful the further they went with the sudden movement. The Sun rose high into the sky, beating down as much as it had on deck but the added exercise making the heat so much worse. They stopped for another break at the bottom of a particularly steep bank and hid in the shade.

"It can't be much further," Newt panted, drinking deeply from his bottle,

"It's these bloody hills," Lyra added,

"I'll check," Thomas said, getting to his feet and clambering up,

"How has he got so much energy?" Newt asked, picking at the bandage on his leg,

Ally shrugged from where she was sitting next to him and slapped his hand away. He looked up at her in apology and she gave him a stern look but her eyes were bright and she was trying to stop her lips from curving upwards, _what was going on?_

"Not on my boat," Lyra said outloud,

"What?" Ally asked,

"You know what," Lyra replied with a pointed look at Newt, "Remember what I said,"

"Yeah yeah," he said, rolling his eyes,

"What did she say?" Ally turned to Newt, confused,

"Nothing," he said with a smile,

"Fine," she huffed, turning away from them. Newt rolled his eyes,

"Ally," he poked her in the side,

"Go away,"

"Or what?"

Ally put her hand on the handle of her knife,

"That's not going to work," Newt sighed,

"Wait, what's been going on? What have you been doing on my-"

"Guys!" Thomas' frantic voice cut Lyra off, "There's a group coming,"

He slid down to them with a scared look in his eyes,

"What's wrong?" Lyra asked,

"They weren't coming from the castle,"

"Yeah, the problem is?"

"I don't know, but they saw me and started running towards us and they weren't far away, we need to move,"

"Which direction?"

"North-"

"Hello everyone," a voice purred from the top of the dune behind them and they all spun around. A man was crouched, looking down at them with a crazed look in his eye. He stared at Ally and then Lyra, who shivered as she felt him scan her from top to bottom.

"So you think you can walk on our land?"

"Your land?" Thomas replied, "But-"

"Everything outside of the castle is ours," the man cut across angrily,

"We're sorry, we didn't know, we'll leave," Newt replied hurriedly,

The man laughed harshly,

"And what would be the fun in that?"

No one dared speak. A wide smile crossed his face as he took in their scared expressions.

"Get the girls, do what you like with the rest," he barked over his shoulder as three other figures appeared above them. A rustle sounded behind Lyra and she spun to see four others on the other bank, they were surrounded. They couldn't be taken, not again, this was no group controlling supplies, these were men looking for fun. She turned to warn the others as one jumped down right in front of Ally. Quicker than Lyra had ever seen the girl move, she grabbed her knife from her belt and swiped outwards, making the man jump backwards and hiss to avoid her. For once, Lyra was glad to see that knife.

"Lyra!" Thomas' voice made her look at him and the four men behind them that were getting closer. She slide her knife out of her belt and held it in front of her. She didn't know what she was doing, none of them did. She didn't have to be told what to do when one of the lunged for her. Her arm instinctively pushed out to keep him away from her, the pointed edge of her blade pointing right at his rib cage. He arched away and tilted his head at her and she squinted her eyes right back. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the other three going for Thomas, thinking she was the weak one. She could work with this.

He lunged for her again and she let herself fall to the ground as if in fear and watched as he slowly walked towards her as she crept backwards on her hands, gripping her knife so she didn't drop it.

"Hello gorgeous," he crooned, leaning down,

"Piss off," she spat as she pushed herself upwards and the knife into his ribcage. He looked shocked and she twisted out of the way before he landed on top of her. She kicked him over and grabbed her knife. Yes, these instincts seemed to be working fine.

She let out all the anger and frustration and guilt that had been building up over the past week as she ran over to help Thomas. He was overwhelmed but the men hadn't seen their friend fall. As long as they kept fighting they might still have a chance.

Ally couldn't help the growl that escaped her lips as the man spoke, she was no-one's _fun_. It was a reflex that made her swing when the man jumped in front of her and it was reflexes that kept the men that surveyed her from getting too close. Two were trying to surround her while the other two fought Newt. They were trying to grab her but every time they jumped she swiped, forcing their hands back. She could tell they were getting impatient, their snarls told it all.

"Come on darling, stop fighting,"

Her body shivered and she let her guard down for a second. A hand shot forwards and she twisted but the small silver blade caught her arm anyway. She roared and felt the darkness that had covered her all week come down in all it's anger.

"I am not your darling," she snarled before leaping at him.

But she was unprepared and didn't know what she was doing. He saw her coming and blocked her easily sending her sprawling onto the land and her knife flying out of her hand. She tried to stand up but the other man was there, kicking her back into the hot sand.

"Stay down, bitch," he smirked.

She stared at him in rage,

"Good girl,"

She sprang again but was stopped by a punch to her gut. It was tempting to stay there, the sudden pain making her eyes water but the anger and fear was too great.

A cry of pain to her right made her ears prick up that was silenced by a dull thud. They were hopelessly outnumbered and death was certainly a possibility.

Not again, no more death.

Hands were on her shoulders pulling her roughly up and she tried to struggle free but they were too strong.

"Let go!" she shouted,

They laughed and pulled her along harder. She let out a frustrated cry but no help was coming from her friends.

A body ran into them from behind, pushing the man on her right to the floor. It wasn't one of her friends but they had long hair and weren't trying to kill her so she didn't complain. She used the distraction to pull out of the other man's arms and ran for her knife. He was right behind her when she turned and punched out in instinct. She felt the blade sink into his stomach and he sank to his knees but she didn't wait to see what would happen next. She looked up to see where to go next but the situation had changed; three of the men were down and two strangers were fighting next to her friends. The remaining men ran, seeing they were outnumbered and they slipped off into the dunes as quickly as they had appeared.

Ally let out a sigh of relief and sank down onto the ground to catch her breath.

"You alright?" A voice asked above her. Ally squinted into the sunlight to see a woman slightly older than herself with flowing brown hair in a ponytail offering her hand to her,

"Yeah," she replied, taking the hand, "thanks,"

The woman smiled at her, "I couldn't just leave you to the cranks, could I?"

"Cranks?" Ally asked,

"You're not from around her, are you?" The other woman asked, looking at her strangely,

Ally shook her head.

"No wonder you were stupid to get caught out here then," she muttered to herself.

 _What was this place?_

She looked over to the others, Lyra and Thomas were talking to another man and Newt was sitting on the floor with his eyes closed.

"You okay?" She asked, crouching next to him,

"They reopened my leg when they kicked it," he grimaced, opening one eye.

Ally looked down at his bandage, it was covered in sand but a small red patch was growing near the center.

"We have to get you back to the boat," she said, slipping his arm over her shoulder and helping him up. She winced as her body groaned after being thrown around but kept upright.

"You alright Newt?" Lyra asked, coming over,

"My leg," he replied,

"We need to go," Ally added,

"You're not going to get him back to the coast, come to the castle and we can get you all patched up," the new man spoke,

They all looked at him suspiciously,

"Why would you help us?" Lyra finally asked,

The woman shrugged, "We saw fighting from the lookout and thought it was our scout patrol so came to help,"

"But _we're_ not from the castle," Thomas countered,

"The only people we don't allow in the castle are the cranks,"

"Cranks?" Ally asked again,

"Crazy people, we need to get going before the come back,"

Lyra looked at Ally and she felt something begin to spark in her chest, Ly was beginning to trust her again.

They needed supplies from the castle anyway, why turn down an open invitation? She nodded at Lyra.

"Okay, lead the way," Lyra answered, adding, "Minho's going to kill me," under her breath,

The man smiled, "I'm Jorge and this is Brenda," he said as he took Newt's arm off Ally's shoulders. Ally silently sighed in relief.

The others introduced themselves as they set off again. Ally at the back with Brenda and Lyra leading the way with Jorge at the front.

As soon as they got up the bank again they saw that they weren't that far off, another ten minutes at most with their current speed. It was nearly midday, they had wasted a lot of time getting this far but hopefully they would be gone in a few hours and be able to forget the whole thing.

She could feel Brenda watching her out of the corner of her eye and knew she had questions but didn't seem to be making any move to ask.

"What are the cranks?" Ally asked Brenda after the silence had gone on for too long.

"People do strange things when they realise they have nothing left to lose. Some form communities and try to rebuild what they have lost, others take it to mean they can do whatever they like,"

Ally shot her a sideways glance, "Don't be cryptic, just tell me what they are,"

Brenda sighed dramatically and Ally bit her lip to stop herself from snapping at their new helper. She had been fighting herself all day but her patience was wearing thin now.

"When the fishermen who survived the flares by being out at sea returned and realised their houses and families had been destroyed, they ran inland and came across our village. They ran through and attacked, laughing at the destruction they made and calling it 'fun'. Those of us who escaped made it to the castle but there weren't many, not compared to what there once was. Now the cranks are bored so they attack our patrols and try to break in, anything for 'fun',"

Perhaps they were better off staying on the boat forever if land was this bad.

"Don't worry, if you've survived for this long you will last, weak people don't last long in times like this," She seemed to guess what Ally was thinking.

"You sound like you've experienced this before," Ally replied skeptically,

Brenda laughed, "I've read enough fiction to know what happens in an apocalyptic situation,"

Ally snorted.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Hello! We have reached the second part of this story, how exciting! I've realised that I am catching myself up and am going to have to write quicker before uni work starts (eek). Enjoy this one, let me know if you have any ideas or comments!~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

They walked up to the main gates which opened as they got closer. The castle was no ruin, the walls were whole and complete with only small signs of damage and two guards stood on top of the gates, watching down on them.

"I didn't know there were any left," one of them shouted down,

Brenda shrugged, "Neither did we,"

Lyra had taken Jorge and Brenda aside as they walked up, asking them not to mention the boat to anyone just yet. "Last time people found out Ally and I had a boat our crew doubled in size," she had sighed, looking over at Thomas.

They hadn't looked convinced but also hadn't argued.

"Newbies have to report to Gally," Jorge told them as they walked into the main courtyard. The castle was made of a large rectangular tower attached on one side to a sprawl of lower buildings, cutting the courtyard into two sections. Two sides were high stone walls that curved around to the short entry passageway which they had passed through. They could have been transported back to the middle ages if it weren't for all the people dressed in modern clothing running about, Lyra thought. But for all the people, there were few that looked older than forty.

"Fine, can we just go," Newt winced, still leaning on Jorge's shoulders.

They were led to the entrance to the tower where a boy who looked to be around Brenda's age was ordering around a group in front of him.

"Did you get to the scouts?" He asked as they got closer, sending the group away,

"Wasn't scouts," Brenda replied, gesturing to Lyra and the others,

His face instantly lit up, "More newbies! Welcome to the Castle, I'm Gally,"

"They need medical attention, they were caught by cranks," Jorge cut in, Newt becoming more and more of a dead weight on his shoulders with every passing second.

"Take them over straight away, I thought we had found everyone," Gally said, looking at Lyra, puzzled.

"It's a long story," she replied tiredly,

"I'm sure," he smiled kindly, "I think Teresa is in the med room at the moment," Gally told Brenda.

Brenda smiled and began leading them into the tower. They entered a large square room with a dark stairwell just visible on the other side of the floor. Makeshift beds lined one wall and the shutters on the large, floor-length windows on the right were wide open to let as much light in as possible. There were old paintings covering the walls, a huge fireplace opposite them and a collection of fragile looking chairs and sofas that looked like they belonged in a museum were scattered in the remaining space.

A young woman with raven black hair was sitting by the window, bandaging a man's hand but she looked up as they walked in, surveying them with eyes that were the most piercing shade of blue Lyra noted.

"What happened?" she asked as she finished with the man and walked over to them. The man disappeared off up the stairs but not before looking at them curiously.

"Newbies got caught by cranks,"

"Lay him down over there," she instructed Jorge, pointing at one of the beds, "You didn't tell me you were going out again," she frowned at Brenda,

"I'm sorry Teresa, we didn't have a lot of time and I couldn't leave them," Brenda defended,

Something passed between the two of them but it was quickly gone as Teresa turned to go look at Newt.

"You hurt?" Ally asked, surprising Lyra,

"Not really, I got hit a few times but nothing serious,"

In truth it felt like she had been in a blender, all her joints ached and it burned every time she breathed thanks to a particularly powerful punch to her rib cage.

"What the hell happened?" Teresa's voice drifted over,

"Oh, he was badly hurt about a week ago," Lyra answered, walking over, "I think it was reopened in the fight,"

"You think?"

Lyra looked down and wrinkled her nose,

"You're lucky it didn't get infected,"

"Will he be able to walk again soon?" Lyra asked,

Teresa looked at her strangely, "The painkillers I gave him will knock him out for a couple of hours at least and he'll need to rest a while before even attempting to get up, where are you planning on going anyway?"

"I need to talk to Minho," Lyra said, turning to Thomas and ignoring Teresa.

"You left someone by themselves out there?" Teresa asked, shocked,

"We were hoping to get back by tonight but that's not going to be possible,"

"Why stay out there, do you not know how dangerous it is?"

"He'll be fine the cranks won't be able to get to him, I just need to stop him from worrying,"

Lyra walked to the other side of the room so Teresa wouldn't overhear her.

"Minho?"

"Hey sunshine, everything alright?" his words were cheery but his voice was strained,

Lyra sighed, "No, we got attacked but we've been taken to the castle for medical care-"

"Medical care! Are you alright, what happened?"  
"Shh I'm fine, Newt's leg reopened, that's all. His painkillers have knocked him out so we won't be able to come back until at least tomorrow night,"

"Lyra at least tell me what happened,"

She quickly summed up the key points of their fight,

"Shit,"

"Yeah, I know,"  
"I want to come to the castle, the boat will be fine,"  
"No we can't leave the boat unattended and it's too dangerous to travel over the land by yourself,"

"I didn't think you cared that much,"

Lyra could practically feel his smirk, "Of course I do. Don't move," she ordered,

"Aye aye, Captain,"

"Oh, fuck you,"

She rolled her eyes and cut the line.

"He could come here you know," Jorge said from behind her. Lyra jumped at his presence,

"Why were you spying on me?" she hissed,

"If Brenda and I are keeping your secret we want to know what is going on,"

The _or else_ was evident in his voice.

"He couldn't come anyway, I'm not letting him leave the boat,"

"He wouldn't have to, there is a small harbour on the other side of the north wall that we also watch. Got a few fishing boats in there,"

If they brought the boat in then it would be easier to get supplies and Newt back on board and it would be safe but it would also mean letting the castle know about it. Was it worth it?

"How many people watch it?" She asked finally,

"We have three people who fish for us and four guards on rotation. They're good men but don't say a lot,"

Seven people plus Brenda and Jorge who would know. But if the castle had access to boats maybe it wouldn't have to end like Leicester.

"I wouldn't have to ask Gally, would I?"

A small smile appeared on Jorge's face,

"Not necessarily, no."

Ally sat on a chair as Teresa looked at her arm. It was nothing more than a deep scratch but it still stung and her side ached from where she had been kicked, that bruise was going to look fantastic later. She hadn't felt like talking since they had entered the castle and her one attempt to talk to Lyra hadn't been great. The darkness she had used to fight against the cranks hadn't fully left her system but she didn't know how to get rid of it.

Newt was sleeping on the floor with a fresh bandage on his leg looking so relaxed it was hard to believe just over an hour ago they had been fighting for their lives. Ally couldn't remember the last time she had felt completely at peace.

"There you go," Teresa said, sticking down the gauze and sitting back,

"Thanks," Ally muttered back,

"Is there anything else?" The concern in the other girl's eyes was too much for Ally, she genuinely cared about her patients and it hurt to have sympathy when Ally felt unworthy of her kindness.

"No," she replied, trying to smile but failing.

Teresa stood up to talk to Thomas who had a black eye but otherwise looked fine and Lyra was talking with Jorge in the corner. Where was Brenda?

She saw Lyra motioning for her to come over,

"What?" Ally asked once she was close,

"I'm going to get Minho," she said, Ally looked at her like she was crazy.

"There's a small harbour behind the north wall, it wasn't on the map because it's new. It will be better if we are all together," she continued.  
"But then everyone will see,"

"No, no one goes around there but the guards and Jorge will make sure they don't say anything,"  
"Right. I hope you're not going alone,"  
"I'm taking Jorge," Lyra gestured to where he stood silently beside her,

"I'll come," Thomas said, overhearing the last part of the conversation,

"You don't even know where I'm going," Lyra snapped,

"It's pretty obvious, there is only one place to go away from here. I could do with a run,"

Ally rolled her eyes,

"Take the doggy for a walk, I'll stay with Newt,"

"Sure you will," Ly mumbled under her breath,

"What are you all talking about?" Teresa asked, standing beside Brenda in the stairwell,

"We're going to get their other friend," Jorge said, heading to the door.

"Wait!" Brenda called but they had already left.

Lyra hadn't said bye to Ally as she left, she would have done in the past but Ally knew she had no one to blame for that but herself.

"They'll be back soon," Ally said with a shrug, sitting down on one of the chairs, "What is this place anyway?"

"It was a museum but when the village became overrun with crazies we moved in," Brenda answered, looking away from the door,

"How many of you?"

"Fifty,"

"That's not many,"

"The village wasn't that big to begin with and…" Brenda drifted off, the hint of tears forming in her eyes.

"Not many survived when it was destroyed," Teresa finished, "Now are you done with your questions?" she snapped.

"Yeah yeah,"

Ally let her gaze drift back into space. After so many days at sea it was strange to sit and not feel the gentle rocking of the boat beneath her or hear the quiet lap of waves through her window.

"Come on, I'll show you around. No point you being stuck in here all day," Brenda said suddenly, her previous mood wiped from her face,

"Sure," Ally shrugged,

Thomas savoured the feeling of earth beneath his feet as they jogged back over the sand dunes. Now he knew where they were going and the others were moving fast he let his muscles stretch out, feeling the slow burn he had missed at sea. He was moving so fast he could feel a breeze in his face and sweat dripped down his back, it was almost like being in a competition again.

"Thomas!" Lyra's voice called out behind him. He looked behind to see he had run a little too far ahead and had nearly lost them over the peak of his hill. He slowed down to a walk as they caught up.

"Just slow down, aren't you tired?" She asked when she was level with him. He shrugged, he had trained for this.

"We're so close, can't I just meet you at the top?" He asked,

"Fine," Lyra said tiredly and he didn't wait a second longer before sprinting off again.

He sat down on the cliff edge and looked out. Lyra had told him they were taking the boat around the corner. He didn't fancy getting back on but it had been worth it to be able to run.

"Does the tide ever change?" Lyra asked Jorge as they approached,

"Not really, I've never seen the water not right up to the cliffs since the water receded," he replied and it was true. Since leaving and coming back the water level hadn't changed one bit.

They walked along the cliff edge until they came to the steep embankment they had climbed up originally. They made their way down to stand at the water's edge.

"Are we swimming?" Jorge asked, alarmed,

"Yep," Lyra replied, wading into the water,

"I did not sign up for this," he grumbled before following her in, Thomas right behind.

Minho watched as three people began swimming towards the boat. Lyra had contacted him again to tell him their change of plans and he was glad he was getting off the boat. It was boring with nothing to do all day.

"Look, I stayed on the boat," he smirked as Lyra climbed onto the deck,

"Congrats, you get to keep your legs," she rolled her eyes as he pulled her into a hug, not caring he was getting soaked in the process.

He felt her wince and immediately pulled away, looking her up and down,

"Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she sighed, batting his hands away,

"Lyra-"

"I said, I'm fine," she glared up at him as a man stepped onto the deck behind her,

"I'm Jorge," he said, standing with his arms crossed,

"Minho," he muttered in return, watching Thomas make his way up,

"We'd better get going," Lyra said, stepping around him and heading to the wheel, "You're on mainsail Minho,"

He tried to catch her eye but she was purposefully avoiding him. He let out a frustrated growl and stalked over to the sail and started hauling it. Fine.

"Thomas, pull up the anchor. Jorge, come stand beside me and tell me where to go," Lyra called out.

Why had Thomas come anyway? He didn't even like sailing. Within minutes they were off, sailing further north to the mysterious castle. He hoped there was hot food when he got there, or anything that hadn't come out of a tin. If he saw another cereal bar he might scream.

Brenda showed Ally around the two squares and the lower buildings. There was a laundry room, a kitchen where someone everyone called Frypan was in charge, stables, shower area and a small school room for the children. It wasn't bad what they had managed to do in a month.

"We have our weekly meetings in here," Brenda said as they entered what must have been the main hall. It was a large open space with wood panelled walls and a raised area of flooring at the far end. Elegantly carved beams held up the vaulted ceiling and the long, thin windows were filled with stained glass that cast a kaleidoscope of colours onto the lacquered floorboards. A giant oil painting of the castle hung above a large oak table on the dias and portraits of what must have been the most influential members of the family lined the walls. Out of all the rooms they had been in this one felt like it had been frozen in time, untouched by the world for a few centuries.

They turned to leave when a fabric covered shape in the corner behind the table caught her eye. She new that strange shape better than any.

"Is that a piano?" She blurted out,

Brenda's eyebrow raised at her sudden interest in their tour,

"Maybe, I've not checked,"

Ally knew she would come back later. It may not be her violin but playing the piano was almost as calming. She had missed being able to make music more than she had cared to admit on the boat.

"Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep tonight," Brenda turned around giving Ally no choice but to follow her.

"There's enough space for no one to sleep outside but it's certainly not one to a room," she said as they walked to the one wing they hadn't entered yet, "We have a group of people working on changing some of the other rooms in the castle into living spaces but it is slow progress," Brenda rolled her eyes.

The wing was mostly bedrooms, dressing rooms and little receiving rooms, preserved by the museum but now crammed full of people, lying all over the priceless beds and antique furniture.

"We only have this room left," Brenda led Ally to a room at the far end of the corridor. Inside was a four-poster bed, a small sofa, a little table with a vase that must have been priceless and a high back stuffed chair. A stack of bedrolls and blankets was stuffed in a corner and there was a door open at the other side of the small room that showed a small bathroom.

"This is for all five of us?" she asked incredulously,

"Yeah," Brenda shrugged, "Don't use the bathroom because the plumbing doesn't work. You can get water from the main courtyard,"

"I suppose that means one of us could sleep in the bath," Ally said halfheartedly.

"And don't forget, the bathroom is behind the stables if you need to go,"

Ally wrinkled her nose.

"Don't worry, it gets emptied frequently,"

"That sounds like an awful job,"

"I wouldn't think too much about it. Anyway, I doubt you'll be given _that_ job,"

"Everyone has a job?"

"Yeah, someone needs to empty the toilets, cook, teach the children, do the laundry, guard against cranks,"

"I guess I didn't expect things to be so organised," Ally admitted,

"We all knew each other from the village so it wasn't as hard, you know, as working with strangers,"

"True," Ally looked around the room, it was so small. At least two of the would be on the floor…

"Let's get back to the tower, I expect the others will be back soon,


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Hellooooo, yeah I'm late again :/ But the plot is moving on. Any ideas, please get in touch! Much love to everyone still reading this ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: surprisingly, we don't own TMR**

It didn't take long for them to travel around the coast and to the small harbour. Lyra was annoyed, if they had just gone a little further north there would have been no reason for them to trek through the sand dunes and the whole situation could have been avoided. She used the motor to get them close to the wall, adding to her annoyance, but they were there. The walls were so high that the mast didn't even reach the top. Jorge jumped off first and onto the steps that were carved into the outside so he could speak to the guards, leaving the others to sort everything out.

Lyra switched off the engine and locked the hatch door, making sure everything was secure before following the boys off the boat. She looked over her shoulder as they ascended the steps, everything inside screamed at her not to leave her unattended, even if Jorge promised she was safe.

"It will be alright," Minho said gently, pulling on her arm so she continued up.

Lyra nodded, it was only one night.

They made their way back through the castle to the tower where they had left Newt. Ally was sprawled out in the shadows on one of the ancient sofas, presumably asleep, and Newt hadn't moved an inch since they had last seen him. Jorge watched as Lyra walked over to Ally, shaking her awake as Gally wandered in behind them.

"Why are they still here?" He asked Teresa who was watching Newt,

"They've only just come back," Brenda replied from the stairwell opposite, "Thanks for waiting, Jorge," she said coolly,

"Where did you go? I swear if you left again without my permission-"

"There was someone we had left behind," Lyra cut in, pointing to Minho,

Gally quickly turned to face the new boy, his anger dissolving into his bright smile,

"Another newbie? Welcome to the castle," He said warmly, "You still should have asked. I need to know where you are," he carried on sharply,

"I'm sorry, point taken," Jorge replied, arms up in defeat,

"Okay, fine, it's getting late. Get them fed and to their rooms, I can question them tomorrow,"

Jorge bristled at the authority in the younger boy's voice, Gally was in charge of newbies and scout patrols but that was it, he had never even been outside the walls since they had got here.

"You guys hungry?" Brenda turned to where the others had gathered around Newt's bed to talk,

"Did someone say food?" Newt mumbled, opening an eye.

"So you're telling me you were awake the entire time I was in there?" Ally hissed as they made their way to the kitchen,

"Maybe," Newt grinned back, limping along on the crutches Teresa had found for him.

"You're such an arse, I just sat there in silence for half an hour,"

"No you didn't you sang to yourself,"

Ally scowled and lightly kicked one of his crutches, making him stumble,

"Hey!" he complained as she stomped off towards Lyra,

"Don't aggravate her, please," Minho pleaded next to him,

"But she's doing so well," Newt protested with a grin,

"Exactly," Minho replied darkly,

The two boys laughed as they got their food from the counter. _Hot_ food, Newt noted. He tried to walk to the table where the others were waiting but he couldn't quite balance everything.

"Hand it over," Ally said, walking over with a tray of water,

"I can do it myself,"

"No you fucking can't, give me your tray or we'll be here hours,"

"Newt, give Ally the tray, I would like to leave before midnight," Lyra called over,

Ally grabbed his food before he could argue back and led the way through the small gaps in between tables. She felt the hair on the back of her neck prick up and abruptly stopped.

"Go on, I'm not that slow," Newt grumbled from behind her so she continued on. She looked around the room, trying not to meet the gaze of anyone. She noticed the boy who Teresa had been tending to in the med room when they arrived. He looked at her with a strange grin. Creep.

They ate quickly, nobody having much to talk about. It was the first time they had had hot food since before the flares and the difference in flavour was amazing. Sure it was only plain fish and potatoes but it hadn't come out of a can! Everyone was silent as they walked to their room, exhausted but full of food for once, The silence was quickly broken once they opened the door.

"No way," Thomas muttered,

"This is tiny,"

"Oh come on,"

"Stop whingeing," Lyra sighed, stepping inside.

"There's bedding in the corner," Ally said half-heartedly, "But we can't use the bathroom so someone could go in the bath,"

"Can I bagsie the bed?" Newt asked,

Lyra stared at him,

"What? I can hardly move my leg and I don't think I'll fit on that tiny sofa,"

"Fine, just no sharing with..." She replied with a pointed look at Ally,

"I'll go on the floor," The other girl replied, dragging a mat out,

"Well if you're in here I'll go in the bath," Thomas said shortly, moving quickly to grab a sleeping bag and closing the bathroom door tightly behind him. Lyra watched as Ally tensed and moved to the opposite side of the room, as far from the bathroom as possible, and turned to face the wall. She shared a look with Newt who shrugged and carefully lowered himself in the bed.

"Me or you on the sofa then?" Lyra offered to Minho,

"You take it. You sure you're alright? You look worse than the rest of us,"  
"Jesus calm down, I'm fine," she snapped but took the sofa anyway, closing her eyes straight away and refusing to look at him.

Minho stood stunned in the middle of the room, trying to work out what exactly he could have done wrong before shrugging and making his own bed. It was fine, she wouldn't stay angry for long.

The morning came far too soon for Newt's liking. The hot sunshine streamed through the window and right onto the bed making it impossible to keep his eyes shut. He heard a quiet knock on the door and stayed still, hoping one of the others would hear it and answer.

A quiet grumble sounded from the foot of his bed and heavy footfalls made their way to the door.

"Hey," Minho mumbled as the door opened,

"Wake up the others, breakfast closes in half an hour," Jorge's voice drifted towards him,

 _Damn._

"Will do,"

He heard the other boy yawn and close the door quickly. There was silence for a second before something (or rather, someone) landed on top of him.

"Jesus Christ what the hell!" he shouted as his leg cried out in pain but Minho just laughed and ran into the bathroom.

"Wha's goin on?" Ally's voice sounded from the corner. Newt sat up with a wince and swung his legs over the side,

"Breakfast-"

He was cut off by Thomas chasing Minho out of the bathroom. Black sludge seemed to be covering one of his legs.

"This absolutely stinks Minho,"

"I didn't know that was going to come out of the taps!"

"I told you not to use the bathroom," Ally yelled across the room,

Thomas opened his mouth to continue ranting but was thankfully stopped by Lyra.

"Everyone just shut up," She commanded loudly. All movement abruptly stopped as everyone turned to look at her. She stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed and an angry scowl fixed on her face. No one dared to point out the creases the blanket had left on her cheek.

"If I want to be woken up by you idiots yelling at each other then I would have asked in advance,"  
"Sorry darling," Minho replied with a wink but he was just ignored,

"Should we eat?" Newt suggested to break the silence, it wasn't like they had brought any changes of clothes with them. There was a general nodding and movement towards the door.

Newt tried to stand up without his crutches but it seemed getting knocked again that morning hadn't done him any favours. Thomas passed him them as he walked out the door and he began the slow process of getting up. Christ he would be glad when he could finally walk normally again.

"Come on, all the food will be gone if you don't get a move on,"

Small hands dragged him up and he looked down to see Ally smiling faintly. Well that was an improvement.

"Thanks," he said as he quickly moved out the door. The others had already started walking although not a lot of speaking seemed to be happening.

He looked down at the smaller girl walking beside him. Her icy blue eyes seemed to be focused on something far away, what was going on inside her head?

"What is it? I know my hair's a mess but I didn't bring a brush," she snapped, finally noticing his gaze as she tried to pat her nest down,

"I didn't notice your hair actually,"

She snorted slightly,

"Just wondering how you're doing,"

"Better," Was all she gave him and he could see the tension creeping along her shoulders.

"You can do this," He said with a little smile. He didn't know what it was she was doing but it seemed to be working.

Breakfast passed without incident. It seemed most of the castle had already woken up before they got there and only a few people were still eating when they arrived. Gally approached them as they put their trays away and told them to follow him. He led them back to the tower and up the stairs that they hadn't been allowed up yesterday. The first floor was similarly furnished as down below with rickety furniture and paintings on the wall. The only difference was the lack of patients.

"Okay so first things first, where have you been since the flares? And don't say the village, we thoroughly searched for survivors weeks ago," Gally asked as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Everyone looked at Lyra, not knowing what she wanted him to know.

She stayed silent for a second, trying to think of the most believable story,

"We've been hiking north, we survived the solar flares and our town was high enough to not be too badly affected by the water but supplies were running low so we decided to take our chances elsewhere," Lyra stated firmly,

"Which town?"

"Leicester,"

Gally looked thoughtful for a moment,

"Sounds believable enough. Anyway, you can't stay in the castle without a job, everyone here must do their part-"

"We don't want to stay, we just need some supplies and then we can get out of your hair,"

Lyra watched him carefully as he slowly got out of his chair,

"Am I right in saying that you want me to give away food to you and your little group for nothing in return? That we healed your friend without any thanks or payment?"

"We are very grateful for all your help but we want to move on-"

"No. You either stay here and work for protection and food or you go with nothing,"

Lyra opened her mouth to argue back but Minho cut across,

"That is reasonable. If we were to stay and work, could we leave at any point?"

Lyra shot him a glare but he ignored her,

"I'm glad one of you is intelligent. Yes, you can leave at any point although I don't know where you would go,"  
"But with supplies?"

"No."

"Could I have a moment to talk to my friends," Lyra said tightly before Minho could say anything else,

"What is there to talk about?" Gally asked, "It's a fair deal,"

Lyra didn't want to reply. He wasn't being unreasonable but at the same time she didn't want to make any decisions about staying so suddenly. She looked at her crew around her; Minho was looking at her, trying hard not to say anything, both Newt and Thomas were refusing to meet her eyes but Ally gave her a tiny nod, a little bit of hope in her eyes. Should she trust her?

"Fine, we'll stay,"

 _Ally better be right about this_

Ally watched as Gally smiled at Lyra's response, all traces of his earlier anger instantly gone.

"Welcome to the castle. Now we need to get you working. What are you good at?"

They all looked at each other,

"I know how to sail and fish," Newt offered,

Minho snickered but stopped after a glare from the other boy.

"I was a mechanic,"  
"I can run,"

"I'm an engineer,"

Gally looked pleased at their responses, making Thomas into a scout, Newt a fisherman once he was healed and pairing Lyra and Minho up to join the other builders.

"What about you?" Gally asked, turning to Ally who had been keeping quiet,

"I'm a musician but there won't be a job for me here. I suppose I'm alright working with children-" she choked on the last words,

"Alright?" Thomas hissed,

"Shut it," Lyra snapped,

"Go and help with the school, if it doesn't work out we can try something else," Gally replied, unfazed.

Ally nodded, trying not to feel the ache in her chest Chuck had left behind.

"Come down to the courtyard and I'll introduce you to your leaders," he herded them down the stairs and back outside. People were rushing about, carrying everything from fish and huge buckets of salt water to planks of wood.

"We distill water from the sea, the nearest river has been polluted with something that we can't identify," Gally supplied, seeing them looking,

"Winston!" He called to a man overseeing the movement of building supplies near them. He walked over and Ally realised with a jolt it was the same man who had been staring at her last night. He didn't seem to notice her now anyway so it didn't matter.

"Got you two new helpers, Lyra and Minho," Gally pointed at them as way of introduction,

"Thank god, progress has been slow and I need all the hands I can get," Winston sighed,

"How're the new renovations coming along?"

"Come and see them later if you like,"

Ally lost interest in the conversation, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the panic building inside. How could she work with children, how could she even suggest it after everything that had happened?

"How dare you even go near them?" A voice whispered,

"Fuck off," She mumbled to her subconscious,

A hand grabbed her arm and her eyes shot open. It wasn't her subconscious,

"Tell Gally you won't do it," Thomas hissed at her, staring her straight in the eyes,

"Get off her," Newt growled, snatching his arm away,

"Stop protecting her, you know I'm right,"

"Thomas, you can stay here while I show these two where to go, I'll be back in a bit," Gally ordered, cutting their conversation off. Ally looked to see Lyra and Minho walking off. She didn't like how they were all being split up.

"Hey, stop looking like that," Newt said as they started walking towards the stretch of buildings at the northern end of the site around the other side of the tower,

"Like what?"

"Like you believe him,"

"I can't do it, he's right," She could feel the hysteria rising,

"Yes you can. All you're doing is teaching children things, you're not responsible for them and they are in the safest place. Nothing is going to happen,"

She took a couple of breaths, fighting against herself,

"Okay,"

"Ally, this is the schoolroom," Gally had stopped a few steps ahead of them in front of a door, "Walk in and talk to Sonja, she's the only person over fourteen in there so she won't be that hard to spot,"

"Thanks," she mumbled,

"See you later," Newt smiled slightly,

For the first time in months she was alone and it was strange.

She walked through the door and saw around twenty children ranging from three to mid-teens doing various activities. The younger ones had giant pads of paper and colouring pens, Ally looked away quickly to the furthest end of the room where the older ones were sat on the floor in rows and attempting some sums someone had written on a giant pad of paper. The room looked to be an old sitting room. There was a giant fireplace opposite her and someone had balanced children's drawings on the mantlepiece. The furniture had all been taken out and rugs rolled up against the walls but the old paintings still covered the walls and the large windows provided enough sunlight to see everyone clearly.

"Hello, are you here to help me?" A woman asked, standing up from where she had been sitting with a group of girls in the corner.

"Um yeah?"

"I'm Sonja and I'm really glad for your help," She started walking towards the door and Ally noticed she had the longest platinum blonde hair she had ever seen.

"I'm Ally,"

Sonja smiled at her, "I've been waiting for Gally to find me a helper for weeks, I can't tell you how tired I am. All the children here are between three and fourteen, I can't deal with any more," she chatted quickly,

She looked at Ally, probably expecting some sort of reply. Ally nodded and smiled and that seemed to be enough,

"I've split them into three groups," Sonja continued, "These are the three to five year olds. I just do basic numbers and the alphabet and talking with them. They are happy to just colour in the rest of the time," She gestured at the group of seven children sat in a clump by the door.

"How are you doing Charlie?" Sonja asked a little boy, bending down so she was eye level with him,

"I'm drawing a snail," he lifted up his paper with a squiggle that Ally conceded could be a circular shape,

"It's very good," Sonja continued, "In fact, I think it is good enough for the display!"

"Who's that," he asked, pointing a stubby finger at Ally, his drawing forgotten,

"This is Miss Ally,"

Ally tensed up for a moment, sure the boy would start crying but he just shrugged and turned away.

"I'll come and see how you are doing in a bit,"

"So is there anything in particular that you are good at?" Sonja pushed Ally, "It's just that I can tell that they get bored sometimes, but I can't be with all of them all the time,"

"Yeah I get that. I suppose I'm good at music,"

Sonja thought for a moment, "Let's see how you get on today with the kids and then we can go from there,"

Ally was showed the other two groups. Sonja was trying to get the six to ten year olds to read Alice in Wonderland but they weren't too enthused. The older ones were the smallest group and were trying to do simple algebra but seemed to be struggling.

"Why algebra?" Ally asked, out of all the things in maths to learn, algebra didn't seem to have that much use in their new world.

"It has it uses, I promise. The builders actually requested they learn it when I was trying to decide what to bother teaching," Sonja sighed,

"If you say so,"

History and geography were taught to everyone at once although it seemed to be quite basic and whatever Sonja knew.

"I don't have any textbooks," she explained, "I can only pass on what I remember,"

"There's got to be a history nerd somewhere in the castle," Ally pointed out,

"Well if you have any free time to find one, be my guest,"

She supposed that out of all their problems, finding qualified teachers was really not on their list of priorities.

The day passed, quicker for some than others. Lyra and Minho were immediately set to work renovating disused areas into bedrooms. The castle was huge but many rooms had obviously not been used in years and a lot of the furniture had rotted away and needed to be fixed and rebuilt. Thomas was put out into the field with the other scouts as soon as he had washed his trousers (on Gally's orders) and Newt sat in the med tower after introducing himself to the fishermen. He could safely say it had been the longest day of his life.

"Hey it's Pegleg!" Lyra called out from where she, Minho and Thomas were already sitting in the kitchen at dinner.

Newt raised a hand in awkward greeting and rolled his eyes.

"You're off your crutches already, now I have nothing to poke fun at," Lyra pouted as he sat down with his food.

"Glad to see that laughing at my injuries still causes you amusement," he sighed,

"So, how's the fishing?" Minho grinned,

"I know you all think I've gone mad but I thought that if one of us joined the fishermen then they could keep an eye on the boat," Newt shot back,

"And here I was thinking you just had no other skills," Lyra smirked, secretly touched that he thought of the boat before anything else. Not that she'd let him know.

"No other skills?" he cried,

"Well go on, what else can you do?" Thomas joined in,

Newt muttered to himself but didn't say anything causing the other three to burst out laughing.

"Hey," Ally sighed as she slid into the remaining seat.

"Bloody hell, what happened to your hair?" Minho questioned as Thomas slipped away silently,

"A three year old tried to plait it," she grumbled,

"And that's why I'm not having children," Lyra joked,

"How were your days?" Ally asked, trying to steer the conversation away from kids,

Minho looked to Lyra as if they were sharing an in joke but Lyra ignored him,

"Well you know how Winston told Gally to come and see the renovations? Well we had a problem,"

"What happened?"

"Well Minho here decides to sit down on one of the new beds in the West wing as we're showing him around and the whole thing collapsed. You should have seen the look on Winston's face,"

"It wasn't my fault. It should have been stronger than that!" Minho protested,

"Whatever you say Piggy,"

"What about you?" Ally directed at Newt,

"Captain Crutches over here has had a great day," Minho answered for him,

"Yeah, staring at the particularly ugly portraits in the tower certainly has been riveting," Newt rolled his eyes,

"So they didn't let you on the boats?"

"Nah not today. But my leg is alright now, as long as I don't knock it again, so I'll be off tomorrow,"

"To sail the seven seas," Minho crowed in a bad pirate accent,

"We've been living, together, on a boat for the past month. Why is this so funny?"

"Because you're a guy called Newt whose main skill is fishing and mending boats. Tell me one thing about that statement that isn't funny,"

"Oh shut up,"

"Where did Thomas go?" Lyra asked, suddenly realising he had left,

"He can't stand my presence," Ally shrugged, continuing to eat her food to hide her emotions.

"Prick," Newt muttered under his breath,

"He'll get over it soon," Lyra said not very convincingly. An awkward silence surrounded the table.

"You know what I'd love?" Minho started after the silence got too long,

"A punch to the face?" Lyra supplied,  
"Clean clothes,"

"Not going to lie, that would be good," Ally agreed,

"Hey, she agrees with me!" Minho cried, jabbing Lyra in the ribs. Ally kicked him under the table and he tried to hide his wince.

"Why don't I go grab some from the boat? The fishermen gave me the keys to the gate leading to the harbour earlier," Newt offered,

"We didn't need that when we brought her here," Lyra replied, suspicious,

"Jorge had it, I saw him open it. Chill," Minho countered,

"Well I need to go talk to Sonja in the school room about tomorrow so I'll meet you in the room," Ally stood up and walked towards the door,

"We can go with you," Lyra told Newt,

"Actually, could we talk?" Minho asked her. Lyra looked at him like he was mad,

"I can go by myself," Newt said, already standing up,

"What? Oh fine," Lyra grumbled. There were a few things she wanted to say herself.

 **Follow and review! xxx**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Whaaat only one day late?! Well here it is, the climax of Ally's little story arch (warning: may be triggering to some people, don't hesitate to PM me if you want to talk) before the others get some much needed air time. Thanks to those who have reviewed! If you have any thoughts, we'd love to hear them~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: don't own maze runner**

Ally's talk with Sonja proved not to be as bad as she had expected. The day had been alright; she had spent most of the time acting out scenes from Alice in Wonderland and actually getting her small group to read a few chapters. She was deemed fit to keep helping with the children although she had been told off for not spending enough time with the ten year olds. Ally didn't know how to defend herself on that one. But despite the overall good news she couldn't shake the doubts out of her head.

She walked out of the schoolroom to an empty courtyard. It was getting late so everyone was inside their rooms which overlooked the other courtyard, adding to the deserted feel.

"There you are,"

Ally started as she noticed Gally leaning against the wall near her.  
"What do you want Gally?" she sighed,

"I want you to stay away from those children,"

"What do you mean?"

"I know what you did, Thomas told me," Shit.  
"Nothing is going to happen to them," her panic rose,

"I'm sure you said the same for his brother" He said with a blunt tone,

Ally stayed silent, she couldn't deal with this again. Not when she was doing so well.

"How could you lie about something like this? We trusted you, offered you shelter,"

"I. Know." She could feel the darkness coming down again.

"The one thing I can't stand, is liars," he looked at her with a wild snarl and grabbed her arm,

"Get off me," she growled, ripping her arm out of his grasp and beginning to walk away. She had to get out of there.

"You're a murderer Ally,"

She stopped in her tracks.

"Tell me something I don't know,"

"Oh I know you know what you are. What I want to know is why the people you travel with are okay with it. Newt, Minho, Lyra they have all forgiven you," he spat,

"Fuck you," The darkness rose,

"You will leave this castle at dawn and never come back,"

She couldn't think but for the endless rage in her head as she ran at Gally. How dare he command her like that. He stood still, waiting but ready. He had wanted this.

In two steps she was there, fists raised and aimed for his mouth.

 _Shut him up. Silence him._

She threw her body weight into her first punch but quicker than she thought possible Gally grabbed her forearm, stopping any damage. Her leg lashed out, bringing him down beneath her. She scratched his face, not knowing how to channel her anger. A knee in the stomach and a punch to the chest had Gally on top, using his legs to pin her down.

"You're nothing but a wild bitch, I should put you down before you become too much of a problem,"

Ally screamed as he slammed her head into the ground. There was a sharp pain before a numbness filled her body and the world slowed down. What was going on again?

"There's no place for murderers at the castle," Gally's voice filtered into his head,

He reached back to punch her in the face and she did nothing to try and stop him. He was right.

But the punch never came.

Gally looked just as surprised as she did and looked back to see Winston had grabbed his arm.

"Stop it Gally, let's not do anything you'll regret," Winston said quietly,

After a charged pause Gally relaxed and stood up, deciding not to take on the bigger boy.

"Don't think this changes anything, you'll be out at first light," he hissed before stalking away.

Once he was gone Ally sat up slowly and looked at Winston who hadn't moved. She moved her hand to the back of her head, grimacing as her fingers came back traced in blood.

He smiled and held out a hand to help her up. She took it, not trusting her fuzzy head to get herself upright.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly when he didn't let go of her hand.

"So is that all I get?" he asked, eyebrows raised,

"What?" she mumbled,

"I just saved your life,"

"Well, you didn't really-"

He cut her off with a kiss, one hand drifting up her top and the other on her lower back. She was numb again, what was going on? It took far too long for her brain to catch up and she pushed him away with a start.

"Get off me!" she struggled against his arms but he was too strong.

He just held her tighter and began pulling her towards the nearest door.

"Oh relax, it's just some fun," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her again,

 _Some fun,_

 _Some fun,_

 _Some fun,_

 _ **No place for murderers**_

 _It's your fault_

 _ **Stay away from those children**_

 _It's just some fun_

 _Some fun, some fun_

"Hey!" Someone shouted from across the courtyard,

The shout made Winston loosen his grip on her and Ally pulled away and out of his arms. She looked up to see Newt, shock mixed with anger clouded his face. How much had he seen? He must be angry at her.

She ran.

As the others made their way out of the kitchen to their various tasks, Lyra didn't meet Minho's eyes that she knew were searching for hers. Instead, her fingers strayed to a loose thread at the bottom of her t-shirt. As the silence stretched out she grew impatient.

"You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, I just…" he started nervously, a way she had never known him to be. She almost rolled her eyes at the way he tiptoed round her like a landmine that was about blow. Gone was the endless joking and banter that was the reason she enjoyed his company,

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, Jesus Christ," she dropped the thread, holding her hands up, before pushing off the table to stand up,

"Lyra," Minho pleaded confused, going after her.

She wasn't sure where she was walking, she just let her feet carry her, the familiar feeling of frustration building up in her chest. Normally she felt it when talking to her Mother, but it seemed it came with anyone she tried to get close to.

"Ly, come on, I know something is wrong," not quite catching up with her fast pace,

"I. Am. Fine!" She threw over her shoulder not looking back,

"You've been… distant," he said choosing his words carefully,

She scoffed at him. She hated it when people calculated what they said, it often made their words far from the truth,

"Why do you care," she said reaching for the door handle of their room, she hasn't even released that's was where she was heading. She didn't know many other places to go, she supposed.

He grabbed her other arm roughly, forcing her to look at him,

"What the hell is that supposed to mean,"

A fire of hurt lit in his eyes, if she didn't know him better she'd assume it was anger.

She said nothing, only looking disapprovingly at his hand. After a moment's pause he loosened it and she pushed open the door, walking out of his hold.

"Lyra," he sad his voice softening, which only resulted in her annoyance growing, "I'm sorry, can we just talk about this? What have I done?"

"You've not done anything," she said exasperatedly,

"Then why won't you tell me why you're not okay?" He demanded, his soft demeanour melting away slowly with each lick of her cold fire.

She moved to the window keeping her temper in check, while he stopped just past the doorway, letting the little wooden door swing shut under the weight of its metal decorative strips.

"Answer me honestly," he said taking slow small steps toward her, "are you okay,"

"For fucks sake Minho," she snapped, turning to face him, "I don't need to be asked that question every five minutes!"

He clearly wasn't expecting that, eyes wide, taking a step back.

"I am not a child and I am not delicate, I thought you knew that,"

She stood her ground as a distant part of her mind yearned to go to him,

"This started - whatever this is - on the grounds of not asking, when you came into my cabin you didn't ask, you sat with me, you understood that was what I needed. Why can't you see that if I wanted to talk to you I would, but I am fine, and I don't need to talk. I am strong enough to seek out help when I need it,"

"I don't doubt your strength," he interjected, holding up a hand in sure defence,

"Then why do you tiptoe around like you're scared to set me off,"

His mouth opened and then closed again, she lowered the volume of her voice.

"Why can't we just go back to how we were," her eyes drifted to the floor,

Next thing she knew his hand was grasping her jaw and forcing her eyes into his. His pressed a kiss onto her lips, pouring his desperation and passion into her. She pulled away.

"Lyra-"

"No Minho, I can't deal with this, if you can't stop treating me like I need protecting, I can't keep going with this,"

"Are you really telling me," he said, a faint flicker of a Minho grin on his lips, "that you _don't_ want me to be careful with you,"

She stared at him with a look that said 'have you even been listening to anything I've said?'.

"Back… before, when I was younger, when I lived in Portsmouth, I met this girl,"

"Minho I don't want to hear about your ex's,"

"Just let me finish, I have a point,"

She crossed her arms and leant against the window.

"She was beautiful-"

"Good to know," she shot but he ignored her,

"A nice kind of girl, but she didn't like my temper, so she left. I didn't want the same to happen with you,"

She looked at him standing in the glow of the evening light that streamed past her silhouette. In that moment he was truly vulnerable.

"Has it ever occurred to you that no two girls are the same," She cocked a small smile,

"Hell, I know the one in front of me is a one of a kind,"

She lowered her head as the smile grew wider, shaking it lightly,

"I'm not letting you go, princess, not easily,"

"Didn't think you would,"

He smiled and sauntered over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her in for a deep kiss. They stayed like that for some time, limbs tangling, before Minho finally pulled away.

"I have an idea I think you might like," he grinned, his eyes sparkling,

She gave him a skeptical look,

"Okay?"

"We want to get out of here right?"

"Yeah,"

"Why don't we get Newt to smuggle supplies onto the boat so that if we do decide to leave, we can survive a bit longer? I know you didn't want to stay, and I know I stepped in and you didn't like that," he said trying to explain himself rapidly,

"No, I didn't," she replied grimly, her relaxed tone turning to one full of tension as she remembered the annoyance she had felt,

"And I am sorry about that,"

"You _cannot_ undermine me like that in front of people we don't know,"

"But at the same time, you can't make rash decisions on your own that concern us all," he said taking a step back,

"It makes us look weak and unorganised, not a force to be reckoned with,"

"And all you looked like was a girl with too much pride to accept help," he turned and walked a few paces,

"Too much _pride?"_ she gaped at him as he turned to face her again,

"Yeah, you were being too hasty," he said taking a few steps back

"And you were assuming that, that-"

"That what!?" He provoked,

"That being with me gives you the right to question my leadership," she shouted at him,

"We're together?" he said with a smirk,

"That is so _not_ the conversation we are having right now," she narrowed her eyes,

A sudden bang sounded as the door opened and Newt stood there looking nervous with a gleam of urgency in his eyes,

"Have you seen Ally?"

It had taken Newt a while to find clean clothes for everyone on the boat. He felt awkward looking through the girls' drawers and regretted not bringing Lyra along as he found his dry bag and stuffed everything inside. How the girls had managed to bring so many clothes with them, he did not know. He locked the hatch behind him and began climbing up the stone steps when he heard shouting from the courtyard. He quickly made his way through the harbour gates and through the small passageway to the castle to see two people kissing in the shadows of the tower, it was hard to make out who they were. It all seemed fine but didn't explain the shouting he had heard earlier. Suddenly the girl pulled away and started struggling against him, saying something Newt couldn't hear. The guy began to pull her towards a doorway but Newt had seen her face.

"Hey!" He shouted, what the hell was going on?

The guy was startled and let go, letting Ally escape. She looked at Newt, fear in her eyes and quickly darted away. Was she scared of him?

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled at the guy in front of him, recognising him as Winston from earlier. He walked over.

"Hey man, if I had known she was taken I wouldn't have touched her. I was just having some fun," he held up his arms in surrender,

"Some fun!" Newt exclaimed, "What is wrong with you all around here?"

Winston shrugged, "Something to pass the time,"

Newt growled, "Just stay away from her," Where had she gone anyway?

"You should thank me anyway, I stopped Gally from bashing her face in,"

Again, what the hell was going on? He hadn't been on the boat for that long!

"Thanks," Newt replied tightly. He had to find Ally, he could deal with Winston in the morning.

He grabbed the bag which he'd dropped and headed to the other courtyard where he had seen Ally run to. It was empty so he headed inside to their room. He burst in and threw the bag on the floor. Lyra and Minho jumped away from each other slightly, tension thick in the air, but he didn't care what he had just interrupted.

"Have you seen Ally? I've got the clothes," he asked them, ignoring their impatient looks. Minho shook his head,

"Why?" Lyra asked, breaking her stare with Minho to look at Newt with concern.

"Among other things I think she got in a fight with Gally,"

"She has fights with Thomas all the time," she dismissed,

"No, as in a physical fight. We need to find her,"

"Okay slow down, tell me what happened,"

"Well I don't know, I just saw Winston kissing her but when I yelled she ran away. And then Winston told me I should thank him because he'd stopped Gally from punching her face in," he spoke just as fast,

"Sounds like she's found a new hero," Minho commented,

"You weren't there Minho," Newt yelled, "She was trying to get away,"  
"Okay okay,"

"I thought she was getting better, why was she fighting with Gally?" Lyra groaned,

"We can figure out what happened when we find her. I don't want her to do anything stupid," Newt replied,

"Let's go," Lyra said, heading out the door,

"I'll check the tower, you check out the ground floor," Newt planned as the began down the corridor,

"I'll check the higher floors," Minho called as he ran in the opposite direction,

They passed Thomas as they hurried down the stairs.

"Hey, Ally's missing. Have you seen her?" Newt asked him, skidding to a halt on the stairs,

"No, I haven't. Can't say I'd be sad if she didn't come back," he replied with a joking smile,

Lyra leapt forwards and smacked him across the face, wiping the smile from his face,

"Well I hope you never come back on my boat,"

"Come on, he's no use. Let's go," Newt pulled Lyra away.

Lyra ran deeper into the castle as he headed to the tower. He ran in to find Brenda and Teresa sat on one of the sofas, talking quietly.

"Hey guys, you haven't seen Ally have you?" he asked,

Teresa pushed Brenda's arm off her shoulder but shook her head.

"We heard hurried footsteps heading towards the entryway ten minutes ago, could that be her?" Brenda replied,

"I hope not, thanks!"

The guards in the entryway told him a girl had run out recently, not listening to their warnings.

"Why didn't you stop her?" Newt shouted at one of them,

He shrugged, "We're under orders to let people pass freely at all times, no one is forced to stay here,"

"She was obviously upset," Newt pointed out.

The two guards looked at each other guiltily.

"Look, I'm going after her. Can you at least show me where she went,"

"You can still see her,"

The guard pointed out into the dunes where a figure had just appeared at the top of a hill, heading towards the sea.

"Thanks. Can you get a message to Brenda and Teresa? Tell them I've gone out to get Ally and to find Lyra,"

The guards nodded and one headed back inside.

"See you soon," he said to the other guard as he ran out into the dimming light.

Ally ran and ran, not knowing where she was heading but only that she had to get away. Her head pounded and her vision blurred; reality was melting away drop by drop. She stopped when she got to the cliff edge and looked out at the sunset. She knew she should feel something. Anything. Even if it were just an acknowledgement of the way the pink streaked sky melted into the sea.

But she was empty **.** All her efforts to get past it all, to move on had lasted two days but it had been a lie, she could see that now. Gally was right, how could the others forgive her? She knew she hadn't been fun to live with on the boat but trying to be herself again and deal with the reassuring smiles and comments had been worse.

She closed her eyes as a wave of nausea washed over her. Thoughts swirled around her mind in a thick fog and it was hard to make out which ones were true. Something didn't feel right.

The moment passed and she opened her eyes again to the fire liquefying into the ocean. All the suppressed emotions were clammering to be heard and she wondered why she had even tried to pull herself out. She wouldn't have bothered if she had listened to the endless pit.

She was exiled from their safe haven, hated by the man who had offered them shelter, hated by Thomas and Lyra had practically given up. And then there was Newt who also probably hated her too. She could still feel Winston touching her, forcing himself on her. The fact that she had let him do that, had had no power to stop it if it had gone further, filled her with revulsion at herself- she was so weak. She thought of all the countless deaths she had grieved for and the good they could have done, if they had survived and not her; was she worth existing?

Her heart screamed at her to feel, to do something to break the numbness that still filled her. To run back and apologise for _everything_ or to take two steps forwards. She didn't know which yet.

She brought her hands up to her head and gripped onto the hair, trying to block out thoughts, not wanting to think.

Walk forwards.

Run back.

Walk forwards.

Run back.

The darkness descended as the Sun slipped beneath the horizon, the only light coming from the warm glow of the candles in the castle behind her.

She brought her hands away from her head, they were covered in blood. She couldn't even feel the dull pain anymore.

 _I should just put you down_

Gally's words rang in her mind. The answer seemed far too obvious.

She stood on a thin line between life and death, her mind challenging her to choose.

Now. Now. NOW.

She took one step forwards, right on the cliff edge and stared down at the churning water below. A tear dripped down her cheek, a single emotion crawling out of the pit to the surface.

A crack from the sand dunes sounded behind her and she swirled around, frantically searching through the fog but there was nothing to see.

No one was there, it was time to decide.

She turned back to the sea and made up her mind.

She stood up tall and raised her head to the sky, the stars so much more visible now there was no electric light.

 _No place here_

"I'm sorry," she whispered to them, and took the last step forwards.

Newt ran through the sand dunes, leg forgotten and wishing she hadn't gone out into the night. What was she planning? It was getting darker and darker and harder to track her.

He caught up with her as the Sun set, standing on the edge of a cliff. The dying sunlight gilded her unbound hair, setting it ablaze in hues of gold and amber and cast her figure in silhouette as she stared out to sea. The sight made him pause; she stood proud and tall, as if she had commanded the Sun to fall upon her that way and it was she that forced it from the sky, but there was something in her stillness that was unnerving. She didn't move even when the Sun dipped the final millimeter under the sea and darkness settled around them.

She took a step forward, to the very edge and he snapped back to the real world, panic rising in his chest. No no, this couldn't be happening. He began to stand, a piece of driftwood snapping under his shoes and he saw her freeze and turn.

Her eyes were wild, the light behind him hiding him from her view but he could see her perfectly well. He wanted to stand fully and reveal himself but the pure panic in her eyes stopped him.

She was too unpredictable, he didn't want to scare her incase she jumped.

Her face relaxed as she turned back and raised her head to the sky. He had to move.

He crept forwards but she didn't seem to hear him, too lost in her own world. He saw her legs begin to move and ran, faster than he thought he could.

She stepped out into the night but then he was there, arms around her waist, pulling her to the ground beneath him.

Her scream echoed all around and she fought him, kicking and biting but he held her down, taking the hits.

"Ally!" he shouted at her, gripping her forearms tighter. She didn't seem to hear him,

"Ally! Please, stop fighting," he pleaded,

He pressed his forehead to hers, forcing her to look at him and only him,

"Allegra,"

Recognition finally flashed in her eyes and he felt the fight slowly die from beneath him. He didn't dare get up, they were still too close to the edge. She held still, panting heavily and eyes locked onto his, he didn't dare break her stare.

"Please, don't," he whispered,

A look of horror swept across her face as her eyes grew clearer. He didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," The words spilled out of her mouth so quiet Newt wasn't sure if they were real.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she spoke louder as a single tear fell.  
"What happened?" he asked, needing to know,

"I'm sorry," she choked again out and then she began repeating it again and again and again. Tears falling faster and faster.

He sensed that he wasn't going to get anything logical out of her anytime soon and moved to a kneeling position, pulling her into his arms.

"I've got you," he whispered, staring out at the dunes around them. He didn't know what he'd do if something came.

"I need to get you back to the castle, the others are looking for you," Newt told her quietly once she had calmed down a bit. They were far too exposed.

She froze, "I can't, he's going to kick me out,"

 _Who?_

"It's not safe out here,"

She shook her head and winced, reaching up to gently touch the back of her head. Newt quickly took her hand away and looked for himself, in the dim light he could make out a darker patch- definitely blood,

"This is not up for debate Ally, you need medical attention," he said, standing up and pulling her up with him. They needed to go. She swayed but remained standing,

"Come on," he put an arm around her waist to stop her from falling over.

"Okay," she mumbled before grabbing hold of his arm as they slowly made their way back.

Lyra had just finished searching the ground floor when Brenda caught up with her.

"God Lyra I've been looking for you everywhere. Ally's gone outside the castle but Newt went after her. He sent a messenger to tell me to find you,"

"Where did they go? Is she safe?" Lyra quickly fired back,

Brenda shook her head, "I have no idea, I only know what I told you,"

"I'm going to find them,"

"Find who?" A voice said behind them,

"Ally and Newt, they went outside the walls," Lyra told Minho, spinning around and heading outside,

"No, the sun has set you'll never find them," he said as he quickly followed her,

"You can't stop me Minho," she shot back,

"He's right," Brenda chipped in,

"Look, you can either come with me and help or stay here but I am going," Lyra stopped at the entrance.

"If you're looking for the girl, she's already on her way back," One of the guards said, pointing to two dark figures making their way towards them.

Relief filled Lyra's veins and she felt Minho walk up behind her.

"Why would she go outside?" Minho asked quietly,

"I don't know," she murmured, not wanting to say what she thought in case it were really true.

They stood in silence as the pair slowly made their way towards them. Lyra couldn't help but wonder if the Ally who came back would be the same one as before or someone new entirely.

Finally they came through the gates and Lyra went to hug the smaller girl before realising that something was wrong.

"What happened?" She commanded, noticing the way Ally was leaning on Newt for support,

"I don't know," Newt said, not meeting her eyes, "but she needs medical attention," he looked at Brenda,

"Come to the tower, I'll get Gally-"

"No," Ally spoke loudly and shook her head slowly, "Not him,"

"Okay," Brenda replied slowly, confusion evident on her face,

The entered the tower and Teresa was immediately there,

"Oh good you found her, I was starting to get worried, what happened?" She questioned quickly,

Everyone remained silent, looking at Ally to see if she would start talking but she just stared at the floor,

"I think Gally attacked her," Newt said finally, "At any rate, she's got an injury on the back of her head,"

Teresa and Brenda looked at him incredulously,

"Not Gally, not for no reason," Brenda argued back as Teresa sat Ally down on a bed and started to look at her head.

"He knew," Ally said quietly,

"What was that?" Lyra asked, stepping closer,

"He knew about Chuck," tears brimmed in her eyes and Lyra reached out to her instinctively. How had he known, no one had told him.

"Thomas," Lyra said suddenly, "He must have told Gally,"

Understanding filled the others faces,

"I'll go get him," Minho said tightly and Lyra nodded. The bastard must have also told Gally about her boat.

"What is going on?" Brenda asked again, getting more and more frustrated,

Newt looked at Lyra but what could she say?

"We're not sure exactly," she admitted, Ally could tell the girls if she wanted,

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Teresa's voice drifted over and Lyra looked to see a bandage had been wrapped around Ally's head.

"Just a few bruises," she mumbled, "thanks, although there was no point really in fixing me up. Gally is going to kill me the first chance he gets,"

"No he won't, don't exaggerate," Brenda cut in,

"He's throwing me out of the castle at dawn,"

"Again-"

"No, you don't understand. He told me that himself,"

"Well I don't know what you did but I know he can't do that, he doesn't have that sort of power. He's not in charge," Brenda argued back,

"Then who is?" Lyra questioned,

Brenda sighed, "It's not one person. The leaders of the different groups all have power but a majority have to agree for big decisions to go through,"

Lyra saw the hope grow on Ally's face,

"Who are they?" she asked,

"Well there is Gally, Winston, Sonja, Teresa, Frypan and Jorge,"

"I thought Jorge was a scout," Newt chipped in,

"He's the oldest person in the castle and the one who suggested we come here,"

"So I have a chance?" Ally asked hopefully,

"It depends on what you did," Brenda said darkly.

Lyra expected Ally's face to fall again but instead she closed her eyes and nodded.

"I'm ready to talk now,"

"I'll go get Jorge, I expect you'll want him to know. He's the best at calming Gally down in any case," Brenda said as she headed up the stairs.

"I'm sorry Lyra,"

She looked up at Ally and saw the tears beginning to fall down her face. Something had changed, but did she dare hope?

"Are you back?" she asked hesitantly, a phrase from their school days,

"I think so," the other girl replied, an attempt at a smile ghosting across her face.

 **What do you think? Too much? :]**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Hey everyone! Somehow I'm at uni woooooo (freshers is fabulous btw). Enjoy this update, I have an idea for where the story is going but the workload is about to hit so, being honest, this might be the last update for a little while. Much love to all who are reading this story. You are all so quiet though, I would love to hear from you, even if it is something completely unrelated! ~ Sarah and Emma**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own maze runner**

Thomas was lying in his makeshift bed in the bathroom, trying to decide if telling Gally about Ally had been a good idea. He had been angry all day and when Gally had confronted him about his attitude he hadn't been able to hold back. He felt a little guilty about letting the boat slip, but once he had mentioned that Chuck had drowned it didn't make sense to deny it. Oh god Lyra was going to kill him.

He had thought about forgiving Ally, but after signing up to help in the schoolroom? He couldn't let that go. But despite not being able to let it go he didn't want her dead, which was a different thought to the one he had had for the past week. He knew what Chuck would have done, he would have forgiven her straight away because that was the sort of boy he was. But to forgive her would be to fully accept that some of the blame of his brother's death was on himself and he wasn't brave enough to do that yet. His guilt for not protecting him was bad enough. But to accept that he played an active part in his death was too much. It would always be too much.

The door opened with a bang and he started out of his thoughts to find an angry Minho staring down at him.

"Why did you tell Gally about Chuck?"

Thomas sat up and stared at him, "What's happened?" he asked, his mouth had gone completely dry,

"Ally got in a fight with Gally and is currently in the med room,"

Shit. Anger radiated off Minho as he pointed out the door, Thomas didn't dare protest.

"I was angry, it just slipped out and I couldn't take that back," he rushed as they walked down the corridor,

"Well tell that to Ally, she's hardly talking and Newt found her outside the castle walls so god knows what happened,"  
Thomas felt guilty for the small, smug side of him that said 'good, she finally got what was coming for her'.

No, he didn't truly believe that.

Minho ushered him into the tower and he stood still, shocked. Ally was sitting on a bed, face very pale and head all bandaged up. He didn't want to think of what Gally had done. He had done this, this was his fault.

Lyra sat by her side, a hand on her arm, but she quickly stood when he walked in. She strode towards him and punched him across the face.

"You told him about the boat, you bastard," she hissed, going to punch him again but was held back by Minho,

"I guessed I deserved that," he mumbled, holding a hand to his cheek. He really wasn't doing too well today,

"So much for keeping it a secret," she snarled, "Not to mention talking to Gally, what were you thinking?"

"I was angry, it slipped out," he argued back,

"Lyra leave him alone, I know why he did it," Ally's voice drifted over. Thomas looked up in surprise,

"I don't blame you Thomas," she said quietly. What did she mean? She couldn't forgive him, could she?

Before he could question any further, Jorge walked in, Brenda right behind him.

"Brenda has told me a few things but I need to get this straight. You have been here one night and already pissed off Gally? That's a new record I think," he said, rolling his eyes as he sat down on a sofa across the room.

"Now Ally, Brenda tells me that Gally wants to banish you at dawn. I need you to tell me exactly why, no lying," he continued,

"It's a long story but it starts over a week ago, when we were a crew of seven," Ally began after a moment's silence and so it began. She told the story of the storm, of how she had asked Chuck to see what was going on and his refusal, how she had gone and done the job herself and stayed up, leaving him down below and to only come up if something was really wrong. Of how when they had all come back down, he had gone.

She stopped and started a few times but for the first time, they all heard exactly what had happened that night. The more she spoke, the more Thomas could hear the guilt she felt in her words and the truth that she really was not to blame. The guilt Thomas felt built and built; he should never have blamed her, never fueled the grief-induced hole she had dug herself into- for that is what he saw her actions had been on the boat. And the more he realised that he had as much a role in his death as she had. He couldn't stop the tears that rolled down his face.

"So Gally wants to banish you because…?" Jorge questioned once she had finished, confusion evident on his face,

"Because I told him she was the reason my brother had died," Thomas replied in a broken voice, "And that she couldn't be trusted to work in the schoolroom,"

All eyes turned to him as he continued, "But I was wrong. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry,"

"Sorry isn't enough," Newt spat, "I told you all along-"  
"It's okay Newt," Ally said, "It's okay. I loved Chuck too. And I'm so sorry I couldn't keep him safe like I said I would," she looked at Thomas,

"We are all to blame, I can't trick myself into putting it all on you anymore," he whispered back, looking to the floor in shame,

"But we still have to sort this mess out," Lyra cut across the drama,

"Well luckily for you Gally can't banish you by himself. I'll call a meeting tomorrow morning. You will already have me on your side,"  
"And me," Teresa chimed in,

"And if you tell your story to the others then you will have no problem," Jorge said with a tired smile,

"I don't know about Winston, I don't think he likes me very much at the moment either," Ally stated sadly,

"Why?" Jorge pressed but Ally was obviously done with telling stories for tonight. Jorge opened his mouth to press further but Lyra cut him off,

"No more questions, she's still recovering. She will still have the majority without him," she stated firmly,

"Alright," Jorge replied, "Well that's enough excitement for tonight, I'm off to bed," he said before turning back to the stairs.

Lyra turned back to Ally and Teresa and Brenda said goodnight, after telling Ally she could sleep in there tonight. Thomas took that as his cue to leave, there was nothing else he had to say for the moment.

Something wasn't adding up. While Lyra got that Ally had escaped Gally and something had obviously happened with Winston, why had she gone outside the walls?

"I'm sorry," Ally said once Jorge had left the room, out of the corner of her eye, Lyra saw Minho and Thomas walk out the door.

"What for?" She asked cautiously, but all the fire and rage that had consumed her on the boat was gone.

"I didn't know how far I'd gone before it was nearly too late," Ally looked up at Newt briefly and Lyra could guess the rest.

"No, you didn't. What?" Lyra couldn't find the words to say,

"I'll tell you everything, I promise. But now I'm so tired I don't know how to function anymore," the exhaustion on the others girl's face was hard to miss,

"Tomorrow, before anything else. You tell me everything and I promise to listen," She needed answers, she had missed so much.

"And you need to tell me things too," Ally replied with a knowing look,

"Really?" Lyra sighed,

"Yes,"

"I suppose it is only fair. I'm glad you're back,"

"I love you too,"

To Lyra's surprise, Ally pulled her in for a hug. She wasn't one for physical contact but this time she didn't care, they were back together.

Newt watched the exchange between the two girls but didn't feel like leaving. He had things of his own to say.

"I'm going back to our room tonight, are you going to be alright in here?" He heard Lyra ask.

"I'll be fine," Ally nodded,

"You coming Newt?" She asked as she headed for the door,

"Just a minute," he replied, not missing the look Lyra gave him as she shut the door.

There was a pause, only a few seconds but it felt like days.

"Thank you, for everything," she said suddenly, standing up carefully to face him,

She started swaying but Newt steadied her with a hand on her waist.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, trying to find the words to say,

"I-, I-"

"You actually jumped," he said quietly. The words that had been haunting him ever since they had got back.

Ally stopped trying to talk.

"You actually jumped and it's… it's driving me crazy. Watching you change over the weeks was awful and when I saw Winston trying to drag you off I wanted to kill him but nothing, _nothing_ was as bad as this,"

"I'm sorry," she said, face crumbling,

"You scared the life out of me, _you_ very nearly had no life. Why?"

"Everything built up, Chuck, Thomas, Gally and Winston. I thought you hated me, thought Gally was going to banish me, needed to get away from Winston, I couldn't think properly it was all too much," she rambled,

"I should be angry at you but instead I'm just scared. No. I'm terrified because it's killing me that I can't stop caring; I can't stop coming back. It would save me a lot of pain if I did,"

"Please don't stop," her voice cracked and she reached out with one hand to hold onto the front of his shirt,

"Do you mean that? Because I can't do this if you don't think about me the same way. It's too much, and I understand if-"

She cut him off by pushing herself up, onto his lips. He instinctively pulled her closer, his fingers brushing the cool skin under her shirt as she reached up to pull his neck down closer to her. Relief flooded through him, all his doubts had been for nothing. Her kisses grew more passionate and suddenly he grew tired of leaning down to reach her. It was all he could do to not collapse onto the bed and instead, lowered them down gently, drawing her small body onto his lap as his other hand tried to run through the ends of her hair. He felt her wince and immediately pulled away,

"My head," she muttered quietly, not quite meeting his eyes as she touched it gingerly.

He internally cringed at his carelessness but took the opportunity to look at her, and take in the tiredness that filled her face.

"You need sleep, we can talk more in the morning," he said gently, raising an eyebrow at the protest he could already see forming on her lips. She saw his look and seemed to think better of it, nodding slowly.

"Will you stay?" she asked sleepily, pulling off her shoes,

He thought about what Lyra would say and then quickly decided he didn't care. It wasn't her boat.

"Of course," he said as he stood up, eyeing all the candles placed around the room, "I'll get the lights,"

He quickly blew out most of the candles that had lit the room enough for Teresa to do her job before carrying the last one over to Ally's bed and setting it down. He noticed how she had sat on one side of the mattress as she took out her hair tie.

"I don't mind," she shrugged, noticing his cautious look and there may have been a blush but it was a bit too dim to confirm.

"I see, one kiss and you throw yourself at me," he said with a grin,

"Two kisses and I'm scared of the dark. Happy?" she shot back,

"I'm not complaining," he replied as he slipped under the sheet.

She lay down after finally untangling her hair turned onto her side,

"Ready?"

She nodded sleepily and he blew out the candle.

Newt settled down next to her and watched as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

"I care," she muttered sleepily,

"I know,"

He pressed his lips to her forehead and finally closed his eyes.

"Night Allegra,"

It was strange to feel her small weight pressed close to his but it felt right. Nausea swept over him when he thought of what might have happened had he not followed her. Never again.

"Night Newt," she whispered.


End file.
